A Parallel Universe
by strella.smith
Summary: What if Polly Cronin had not been able to shut Fred up in the jack-in-the-box? This story takes place in an alternate universe where this was the case and we see what ensues because of Fred's uninterrupted presence in Lizzy's life.
1. Meeting Lizzy

**Title: **A Parallel Universe - Meeting Lizzy

**Author: **Strella Smith

**Pairings: **Eventual Fred/Lizzy

**Rating: **G

**Premise: **What if Polly Cronin had not been able to shut Fred up in the jack-in-the-box? What if he had stayed with Lizzy all through the years? This story takes place in an alternate universe where this was the case and we see what ensues because of Fred's uninterrupted presence in Lizzy's life.

**. . .**

He would never forget the first time he saw her, a tiny little thing, scarcely more than a baby, shrouded in a curtain of long, silky black hair. She was his new assignment after four years with a rather unpleasant young boy. Clayton (the boy) had been a fitful, spoiled child, with little imagination. He needed Fred to help him break out of a listless shell created by a life too many toys and inattentive parents. He had been a challenge, oh yes indeed. Fred loved mayhem, adventure, anarchy, joy! Clayton loved quiet, sedation, order, and ease. In many ways they had been a poor match. They fought more than they played. But in the end, Fred saw that the the Powers-That-Be knew what they were doing. Fred had helped Clayton learn to communicate with his parents and live outside of his video games and television. They had parted friends, but not without a sigh of relief on both sides.

The moment he materialized into the pink bedroom, he saw instantly that his new little charge would be of a different ilk altogether. She was standing in front of a big, picture window overlooking the front yard, holding a baseball in one small hand. A few seconds after Fred appeared, she threw it with all her might. It smashed gloriously through the glass and sailed away into the afternoon air. Unaware of Fred's presence, the little girl snatched up a bundle of something and started to climb through the broken shards of the window.

"I do LOVE those breaky noises, don't you?" asked Fred pleasantly. The child spun around in shock. He was sure he must be quite an alarming sight for a little girl to see in her bedroom. A tall, lanky man dressed in a bright green, striped suit with red shoes and wild orange hair.

"Who are YOU?" she demanded, her big, brown eyes wide with amazement.

"Who am I? Well you may ask! My name is Fred. Drop Dead Fred! Imaginary friend extraordinaire!"

"A - a _what_ kind of friend?" She couldn't have been more than four.

"Imaginary", repeated Fred good-naturedly. "But that doesn't matter. What's _your_ name?"

"Elisabeth Cronin."

"Well Elisabeth Cronin, why are you breaking windows without inviting me to join you? I love breaking windows!"

"I-I'm running away from home!"

"Oh, is that so? And why are you doing that?"

"Because - because my mommy is so mean! She grounded me because I lost something, but I didn't mean to. I don't want to live here any more!"

"Well, where are you going to live?"

Indifferent shrug. "I don't care. Anywhere. Maybe the park down the street." She tilted her dark head to one side and eyed Fred curiously. "How did you get into my room?"

"Magic," said Fred carelessly. "Tell you what. Let's go to the park down the street and see if you like living there. If you don't, we can come back here and I'll help you get even with your mean mother! How does that sound?"

Elisabeth Cronin surveyed him thoughtfully. "Can you really do magic?"

"Can I!" Fred instantly disappeared into a sparkle of green smoke and reappeared on the other side of the room. Elisabeth clapped her hand to her mouth in delight. "You really can do magic!"

He smiled smugly. "Told you." He came closer to her and bent down so that he was eye-level with her. Up close he could see that her eyes were red and blotchy from crying. She was an adorable little thing, as delicate as a china doll. Fred felt a stab of sympathy go through his heart. Who on earth would make a child like this cry? "So do we have a deal?" he asked gently. "Shall we go to the park and see if it's any fun to live there?"

Elisabeth took a deep breath. "Deal!" she exclaimed.

"Alright!" grinned Fred. He held out his pinky and she shook it. "I'll go first." He swung one leg over the window sill and was about to climb out onto the roof when he turned back. "Oh, I forgot to give you something!"

"What?"

Fred dug his finger into his nose and wiped the contents all over Elisabeth's face. She stood there, stunned for a moment before she began to laugh. "Eeewwww!!! Gross!"

Fred laughed gleefully. "Come on Snotface!" he shouted. "Last one to the park's a smelly, rotten egg!"

They had a glorious time at the park. Little Elisabeth (or Snotface as he now preferred to call her) was the very antithesis of Clayton. She was bright, fun, good-natured and game for anything. When they had exhausted themselves on the playground equipment and tired of dropping acorns on people's heads from the boughs of an enormous oak tree, they sat in its shade and ate the goldfish and chocolate bars and juice boxes Elisabeth had packed in her bundle.

"I like living here with you, Fred!" Lizzy exclaimed happily. "Let's stay here forever!"

"Well," Fred noisily drained a juice box. "I like that idea. In fact I _love_ that idea!"

"Let's do it then! We can sleep under the slide there, see? And we can play here everyday!"

"I like those ideas too," said Fred. "There's just one little problem with the plan."

"What's that?"

"We haven't got any more food." He showed her the empty sack. "See? We ate it all."

Lizzy's face fell. "Can't we get more?"

"We can. But we'll have to get it from your house."

"I don't want to go back home."

Fred scooted closer to her and gently put his arm around her shoulders. "Tell you what, Snotface. If you'll come back home with me, I'll help you plot the most beautiful prank to play on your mother. I mean, it will really knock her socks off. We can't stay here. We'll get too hungry. But we can still have all kinds of fun at your house. I'll stay as long as you like."

Lizzy's eyes lit up. "Really? For as long as I like? Forever?"

"Forever," declared Fred, little knowing what he was promising. "And we can play tricks on your mean mom everyday if we want!"

For a brief moment Lizzy looked overwhelmed with happiness. Then her face fell. "My mom won't ever let you stay."

"She won't have a choice," replied Fred smugly. "_I'm_ Drop Dead Fred! I come and go as I please! Not even your mother can stop me!"

"Where will you sleep? Mommy will never give you a bed."

"Ha! Shows how much _you_ know! _I_ don't need beds! Heck! I don't even need sleep!" (this was not strictly true) "I'm a loner! A drifter! I can disappear into thin air if I need to! You still think your mother can stop me?"

"I guess not," said Lizzy.

"Look, don't worry about me, Snotface. I can handle your mother. We're going to have loads of fun together, you and I! And we'll make your mom pay for every mean thing she does to you! What d'you say?"

"Okay," said Lizzy beginning to smile again.

"Okay?"

"Okay!!"

Lizzy laughed for joy. Then she suddenly flung her arms around Fred's neck and hugged him fiercely. The gesture caught him off guard. He wasn't used to such flagrant displays of affection from Clayton. For a moment he hugged her back with delight. Then he howled in mock disgust. "Ugh! Snotface! Gross! Get off me! I don't let yucky, yucky girls touch me!" He began to tickle her. She screamed in delight and collapsed giggling onto the grass. "There!" gasped Fred, giving her one more tickle. "Let that be a lesson to you!"

"You're funny Fred!"

"Yeah, well you're a gross girl! Come on Snotface, let's go back and see what we can do about your mom!"

. . .

It was worse than he had expected. Children often exaggerated the cruelty of their parents, especially after having a fight with them, or being disciplined. He saw almost at once that this was not Lizzy's case. Her mother (whose name he later learned was Polly) was in a cold, towering rage when Lizzy came home. There was no sign of concern, Fred noted) that her child had been missing all afternoon, there was only fury that an expensive window had been broken and glass had gotten on the carpet.

"I just don't know what do with you!" Polly cried. "You're hopeless! Honestly, Elisabeth, I try and I try to teach you how to be a good little girl, and you simply _won't_ learn!"

"I just didn't want to be grounded!" protested Lizzy, sitting unhappily in a straight-backed chair before her angry mother. The scene reminded Fred of an interrogation. "I wanted to go outside and play!"

"You were grounded for a very good reason!" Polly growled. "You lost my gold pendant, the one grandma gave me. I've told you and told you to be careful with my things, but you will not listen."

"I was just looking at it," muttered Lizzy, resentfully. "I didn't mean to loose it. I still don't know where it went."

"Don't argue with me! You have done more than your fair share of mischief today. You will go to bed with no supper. And you're sleeping in the room with me and your father tonight so we can make sure you won't sneak off anymore! Honestly, I might as well be running an insane asylum. The next thing I know, I'll have to put you in a straight jacket!"

Polly slammed angrily around the kitchen, trying to make dinner in the midst of her rage. Lizzy watched miserably from her seat. "Where were you all afternoon anyway?" Polly asked suspiciously.

"I went to the park with my friend."

Polly's head came up. "What friend?"

"His name is Drop Dead Fred. I met him this afternoon."

"Drop dead what? Where did you meet him? At the park?"

"No, in my bedroom. He's here now. He's standing right over there. See?"

Fred braced himself in the corner of the kitchen where he stood. _Here it comes,_ he thought.

Polly looked over toward Fred, bewildered. "Elisabeth, what are you talking about? There's nobody there."

"Yes there is!" protested Lizzy. "He's standing right there. He's wearing a green suit. He has red hair. Can't you see him?"

Polly glared at her daughter. "Elisabeth, don't be ridiculous. You're just making things up now. You didn't meet some strange man in your bedroom and he's not standing in the kitchen."

"I'm not making things up! His name is Drop Dead Fred, and he's my friend. He can do magic!"

"Snotface, she can't see me," interjected Fred.

"What?"

Fred crossed his arms and sighed. "You're the only one who can see me."

"Why?"

"Because I'm imaginary. I'm your imaginary friend, remember? Imaginary means - means... well it means that I'm invisible to everyone but you."

Lizzy looked profoundly crestfallen. But she turned back to her mother. "Fred says you can't see him because he's imaginary," she explained.

"Oh, well that explains a lot," said Polly sarcastically. "Well you can say goodbye to your friend Fred because you are going up to your room to bed. That is, you are going up to _our_ room to bed."

"Fred's coming with me," declared Lizzy firmly. "He's going to live with us now."

"Fine, whatever," snapped Polly. "Just go. I'm tired of your nonsense."

"May I take a picture book with me?" begged Lizzy.

"No, you certainly may not! You are in disgrace. You will lie in your bed and think about what you've done!"

Lizzy went sadly, humbly. Fred made a horrible face at Polly Cronin, even though he knew she couldn't see him, then followed Lizzy up the stairs.

"Boy, you weren't kidding when you said your mom was mean!" he remarked to Lizzy as the bedroom door swung shut behind them. "She's a real Mega-Beast!"

Lizzy nodded. "I'm always in trouble," she said sadly. "I don't try to be bad... it just seems to happen. I can never make Mommy happy."

Fred felt a jolt of sadness pierce his heart. There was a note of defeat in Lizzy's voice that alarmed him. In her eyes, he saw the merest suggestion of hopelessness, but it was enough. He had definitely arrived in the nick of time. This little girl's spirit was in jeopardy, the bright joyousness of her personality being threatened on a daily basis. Given no encouragement, no love of any sort, she would be crushed altogether eventually. Fred balled his fists in his pockets and steeled his jaw with determination. He _would_ counter this. He would be the driving force that checked the flood of Polly's abuse. He would stand between her and Snotface if it killed him. It would be a clash of titanic proportions. Mentally, he rubbed his hands together in anticipation of it. This would be fun. Much more fun than Clayton. He sat down on the bed beside Lizzy.

"You're not bad, Snotface," he told her gently. "Don't you listen to her. If you can't make her happy, then don't even try. You just be yourself. You hear me? I think you're great! I had more fun with you this afternoon than I've had in a long time. We're going to have more fun too. I'm going to spend all night thinking up a plan to get even with her. You wanna help?"

Lizzy nodded.

"Great! Let's see now... what sorts of things does your mom hate?"

They had a magnificent evening, dreaming up all sorts of dreadful ways to wreak havoc on Polly. Fred was pleased to learn that she hated dirt, clutter or disorder of any kind. He specialized in creating all that. They came up with so many plans that they weren't sure which one to pick first. Eventually they settled on arranging a bucket of dirty water over the kitchen door so that it would upend itself when Polly opened it.

"It's a trick that's old as the hills," said Fred thoughtfully. "But I think it's quite appropriate in this situation. I'll fix it up tonight and make sure you're downstairs in time to see it happen. Ohh, this is going to be so much fun!!"

"Just make sure it doesn't fall on daddy," said Lizzy. "He's nice. I love daddy."

Fred eyed her pensively. "So your dad's alright then? Well, that's good. I'm glad there's somebody decent to you in this house." They were still talking when Polly and Lizzy's father, Nigel, came up to bed.

"You can sleep on the sofa, Elisabeth," said Polly coldly. "Your father and I are not going to give up our bed just because you won't stay in yours."

Nigel didn't say much, but he helped Lizzy make a little bed on the sofa out of sheets and blankets and pillows. Polly ignored them and focused on her nightly toilet.

"Goodnight, pumpkin," Nigel tucked his daughter into the makeshift bed and kissed her on the forehead. "Try not to break any more windows, eh? It only makes your mother mad."

"Goodnight, daddy," whispered Lizzy. Nigel smiled faintly and went to bed.

"Right," said Fred taking Nigel's seat beside Lizzy. "Tomorrow then, bright and early. Bucket of nasty water says hellooooo to the Mega-Beast's head! Ooooo it's gonna be beautiful!"

Lizzy giggled.

"Elisabeth, stop making noise and go to sleep!" came Polly's stern voice through the darkness.

"I'll go get it ready right now, Snotface! You go to sleep!"

"Goodnight, Fred!"

"Goodnight, Snotface!"

"Fred?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you've come to stay with us."

Fred smiled softly in the darkness. "Me too," he said simply.

"Goodnight Fred."

"Elisabeth! Who are you talking to over there?"

"Drop Dead Fred."

"Well, stop it and go to sleep or you'll be grounded again tomorrow!"

Lizzy sighed and cuddled into her sofa cushions. Fred squeezed her hand and vanished into his green sparkles. He definitely had his work cut out for him.

. . .

The prank was a glorious success. Of course it got Lizzy into more trouble, but it was absolutely worth it just to hear the Mega-Beast's screams of horror as the cold, dirty water cascaded over her perfect hair and clothes. Fred and Lizzy's sides ached from laughing over it for weeks to come. And there were more pranks after that. Fred was continually amazed at Lizzy's eagerness to play trick after trick on people they didn't like. The old days of having to coax and plead with stick-in-the-mud Clayton were a thing of the distant past. Nothing phased Lizzy. She was quite as ingenious as he at dreaming up new amusements. And she was always a good sport about the consequences.

Best of all, her spark of life seemed to be strengthening. With Fred's encouragement she stood up to her mother when she was unfair or verbally abusive. When things got too hard and Lizzy's valor seemed to be flagging, Fred was always there to act as cheerleader.

The clash between himself and Polly was as titanic as he had anticipated. It was amazing (he thought) how much conflict could go on between a live human being and an imaginary one, especially when the live one could neither see nor hear the imaginary one. Fred hated Polly like he had never hated anyone before. Everything about her grated against his nature. She was a neat-freak, a control-freak, a germ-o-phobe and a prude. Worst of all, she was relentlessly cold and unloving toward Lizzy. Lizzy had a naturally affectionate nature and she would try and try to show her mother love, to win her approval. But there was no room in Polly's perfect house for sloppily drawn crayon pictures that said "i lov you mommmy." Little bouquets of dandelions with dirt still clinging to them had no place on the spotless dining room table. And inappropriate questions such as "Mommy, why is that pigeon jumping on that other pigeon's back?" were met with either shocked silence or a sharp reprimand to "not ask filthy questions."

Fred lived to make Polly's life miserable. Lizzy had no qualms about talking about Fred as though he were a live person whom everyone could see and it gave him great pleasure to have as many of the disasters attributed to him as possible. Polly had not thought much of Elisabeth's imaginary friend at first, but as time went by she realized more and more just how much chaos this non-existent person caused in her life. She scolded, threatened and pleaded with Lizzy to "stop this Drop Dead Fred nonsense." Lizzy of course would no more "stop it" than she would go to the moon. Fred was the best thing that had ever happened to her and she would as soon tear out her own eyes than give him up.

As for Fred, he was happier than he could ever remember being. It wasn't just making the Mega-Beast miserable that brought him joy. It was Lizzy herself. Even when they weren't plotting mayhem on Polly, Fred loved being with her. He loved making up games for her, telling her stories, playing at the park with her. It gave him secret satisfaction when she ran to _him_ for comfort and reassurance instead of her mother. He had never experienced such a close bond with a child in all his days of being Drop Dead Fred.

He knew he must be very careful about becoming too attached to her. The Powers-That-Be to whom he was required to report ever so often, strongly discouraged imaginary friends from becoming too emotionally involved with their charges. It wasn't healthy, they said, since the friend's time with the children was usually quite short. Most friends didn't stay more than four or five years at the most. Some only a few months. Their jobs were to create fun and joy for children who needed a little extra help coping with life. They also acted as guides and guardian angels of sorts. When the children had grown enough emotionally that they didn't need the imaginary friends any more, the friends were usually just forgotten or phased out gradually. Most of the time, the transition was quite painless for both parties. Imaginary friends tended to loose interest in children who were getting bored with them and they were almost always quite ready to move on to their next charge when the time came.

Fred knew that the time would come when he must leave Lizzy and the thought made him uncharacteristically sad. He doubted that he would ever again be friends with a child whom he liked quite so much. Still, he had a few years left with her. He was determined to make the most of them.


	2. Not Ready To Leave

**Title: **A Parallel Universe - Not Ready To Leave

**Author: **Strella Smith

**Pairings: **Eventual Fred/Lizzy

**Rating: **G

Three years was not enough, thought Fred, watching the two children play together. Not when they were three years of perfect happiness. He had hoped to have Lizzy for at least a little longer. She was only seven. A lot of children kept their imaginary friends until they were nine or ten. A very rare case might keep one until eleven. He had hoped that Lizzy might be that rare exception.

But now he doubted she would be. And it was all because of that little neighbor boy who had moved in next door. Little Mickey Bunce. Mickey Fartpants Fred preferred to call him. He was an unmitigated nuisance (in Fred's opinion). Up until now, Lizzy had had practically no friends apart from Fred. As far as she was concerned, he was all she needed. He was her playmate, her advisor, her comforter and champion. What more did she need? Fred was not displeased with these circumstances. In fact he secretly rather liked them. No other friends meant more time to spend with him. He was far more selfish in this regard with Lizzy than he had ever been with other children. He knew The Powers-That-Be would frown upon such an attitude. They would have wanted him to be encouraging Lizzy to make new friends, to branch out and grow up and move on. It wasn't that Fred didn't want Lizzy to grow, he just didn't want her to grow apart from _him_. Not yet. He knew it would would happen sooner or later, but he preferred it be later.

Now Mickey had shown up and thrown a wrench in Fred's hopes. Lizzy had been very attracted by Mickey's presence, as children will be. A new child in the vicinity meant new games to play, different toys, new ideas. Mickey had evidently felt the same way about Lizzy and the two had quickly become friends. Fred knew from experience that often times a close friend (who was not imaginary) could be more instrumental than anything else in causing a child to phase out an imaginary friend. Not always, but often.

Mickey was just the sort of friend who posed a threat to Fred. He was fun, good-natured, and favored with just the right amount of mischievousness to compliment Lizzy. _And_ he was a boy. Fred wasn't sure why, but in his mind, this sounded a death-knell to his presence louder than anything else. He didn't think he would have minded another girl so much. But a boy... this was encroaching on Fred's territory.

Sometimes he felt that he was being ridiculous and irrational. Lizzy rarely neglected him and she was very good about including him in whatever games she and Mickey were playing and vice versa. Mickey, to his credit, was quite good-natured about Fred, even though he couldn't see him. He generally went along with whatever Lizzy said Fred wanted to do. Fred supposed that he should be grateful for this, but he couldn't help feeling that every time he looked at Mickey, he was looking at his eventual replacement.

These feelings resulted in Fred frequently taking out his frustrations on the Bunce household. Lizzy, unaware of the true motives behind Fred's antics, always went along with them. They had laughed until their sides hurt at the family cat after they had shaved it 'round the middle, leaving it orange and fluffy on the ends and mewling indignantly. Then they had gotten a rush out of throwing yellow paint all over Mickey's (rather stuffy) grandmother while she was gardening. They snuck a bright red shirt into the washing machine one day so that all of Mickey's underwear was pink afterward. Another time, Fred put a few drops of bright blue food coloring in some rising bread dough so that the bread came out a shocking azure.

But while these shenanigans provided a temporary relief for Fred's frustrations, they were just that... temporary. After the joke was over and the laughter had died away, Mickey was still there. And Fred was still worried.

On the morning of Lizzy's seventh birthday, Fred was due to report in to the Powers-That-Be - or rather their review panel. In order to do this, he had to make a trip to Limbo. Limbo was the "home" (if it could be called that) of the people who were like Fred. They had many different names on Earth: imaginary friends, guardian angels, spirit guides, hallucinations... the beings who interacted mainly with children and could be seen by no one else.

Limbo was a strange place. It did not seem to have many natural laws such as gravity or fixed dimensions. It had cities with houses and other buildings, but they tended to float around, presumably at their owner's whims. It had gardens and green grass and winding streets, but none of those seemed very fixed either. The streets changed direction frequently, winding and twisting across other streets so that maps were completely useless. At the center of the place was a large, white building surrounded by a walled garden. The wall seemed to be made of some sort of material that shifted and shimmered. On closer inspection though, one would've seen that the shimmering surface was actually thousands of windows - portals into people's lives. At any given time, one could stroll up to a window, look in it and see what was going on the life of any given person on Earth. Nearly all of them were children. A few were adults - very unusual cases that needed attention from the Powers-That-Be.

Fred made his way now to this garden, through the gate and into the white building. He entered a room that was completely bare of furnishings except for a long, ornate table at the very center. The room was lit by soft, golden sunlight. Behind the table sat several people, three men and three women. This was the review panel. Every imaginary friend was required to report to them ever so often and give an update on their charges. The panel usually listened to the report, took a few notes, consulted with each other and then determined how the case was coming along.

Fred had been coming before the panel for years and he had almost always had good reviews. He had never minded the interviews before, but today, for some reason, he was dreading it.

The senior reviewer of the panel, a man known simply as Judge Fair cleared his throat loudly and looked at Fred over his eyeglasses. "Proceed" he ordered.

Fred proceeded. He stated his name, his position, his charge's name, her age, the purpose for his assignment and a brief overview of how he thought the case was fairing. He had done it a hundred times before and yet never before had he struggled with this feeling of butterflies in his stomach. When he was finished, Judge Fair and the other reviewers looked over their notes.

"Well, well, well," Judge said at last. "So you've been with Miss Cronin for three years now? Seven years old today? Very good, very good. Hmm, let's see, got an overbearing mother whom you're helping her cope with? Hmm hmm, father decent sort but not around enough... you've been boosting her self-esteem... coaxing her to be herself... giving her an outlet for her emotions... very good, very good."

"My notes show that there is another child on the scene now," spoke up another panel member, a woman called Sagacity.

Fred sighed and turned to her. "Yes," he said. "That's Mickey Bunce. Lizzy's new friend. He's a next door neighbor."

"I see," was all Sagacity said. She was a short, wiry young woman with keen brown eyes, an intelligent face and smooth brown hair. She and Fred were friends of sorts. He had known her for years and she had occasionally acted as a sort of unofficial advisor to him. Fred liked her and trusted her, but she occasionally made him uncomfortable. She seemed to have a way of reading his mind which was most disconcerting.

"If you don't mind my saying Fred, you seem a bit uneasy about something today," said Sagacity pleasantly.

"D-do I?" stammered Fred.

"Yes. Would you like to tell us if there's anything on your mind?"

Fred dithered a moment, loath to voice his concerns before so many scrutinizing eyes. But he knew it would be better to just come clean. "Well, the fact of the matter is... I'm a bit concerned about this Mickey boy," he said slowly.

"Concerned in what way?" asked Judge Fair.

"Well, it's just that Lizzy's very taken with him and - and she spends a lot of time with him... and..."

"And you're afraid she might phase you out for him?" offered Sagacity.

Fred looked at her unhappily. "I just don't think it's the right time," he said desperately. "Mickey's not a bad kid, but he doesn't know how to help Snotface cope with the Mega-Beast. I'm afraid she'll get tired of me and phase me out before she's really ready. I-I just don't want her to make a mistake."

There was a long silence. All of the counsel members were looking at Fred with sudden interest. Judge Fair cleared his throat. "I think you will find, Fred," he said slowly. "That most children have a knack for knowing what they need, when they need it. They have better judgement than most people give them credit for. If Miss Cronin is ready to move on with her life and leave you behind, then it will be for the best. If she's not, then you have nothing to worry about. This counsel has a long history of letting children decide for themselves when it is time for an imaginary friend to leave. You should know that by now."

"Yes, sir," said Fred quietly.

"If you're so worried about it, why don't you just ask Lizzy if she still wants you around?" suggested Sagacity. "Sometimes that is the quickest way to make a clean break. Occasionally a child will hold on to an imaginary friend because they don't want to hurt their feelings, but they're really ready for them to go. If Lizzy doesn't need you any more, then it will be best for you both if you go ahead and leave."

_That is what I'm so afraid of_ thought Fred. Aloud he said. "Of course, you're right Sagacity. If that's what you think I should do, then I'll do it."

Sagacity looked at him and he saw sympathy in her eyes. All she said though was "good man".

"This review is adjourned then," announced Judge Fair. "Drop Dead Fred, if your charge should decide that she is ready for you to leave, you may report back here in a few days to receive your next assignment."

"Yes sir," said Fred again, hoping the lump in his throat didn't make itself heard in his voice.

"Dismissed," said Judge Fair.

Fred left the panel room and trudged through the garden with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. If he had felt bad upon coming to the review, he felt a thousand times worse leaving it. He heard someone running up behind him.

"Hello Fred," said Sagacity. "Got a minute."

He shrugged.

"I just wanted to let you know, I don't think your little Snotface is ready to let you go yet," she said gently. "I've had my eye on you two for a while and she still seems quite taken with you."

"Yeah, well, she's pretty taken with Mickey too," muttered Fred.

"It's not a bad thing for a child to have other friends," chided Sagacity gently. Fred nodded.

"You're quite fond of this little Lizzy, aren't you?" said Sagacity softly. Fred shrugged again. "I can't help but notice," continued Sagacity. "I've never seen you behave in quite this way with any other child."

Fred glared at her. "Is it that obvious?" he grumbled.

Sagacity smiled at him. "I've been sitting on that panel for years now," she said. "You get to know people that way. In all the years you've been coming before me I've never seen you behave quite like you did today. You're a pretty consistent guy. Your voice, your whole body language changed today when you talked about Lizzy. It was quite interesting."

"Lizzy's special," said Fred quietly.

"There's nothing wrong with being fond of a child," said Sagacity. "In fact we strongly encourage fondness. But be careful. Don't get too attached. It's a sure fire way to get hurt. We need you with all your wits about you so you can help Lizzy to the best of your ability. An objective companion is the best kind."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, go on then. I believe it's your Snotface's birthday today. What kind of an imaginary friend would you be if you didn't come to her party? Go on with you. Have fun." Sagacity slapped him affably on the back.

. . .

Lizzy had just finished being dressed by Polly when Fred arrived back at the Cronin house. She looked very pretty in her little pink, frilly dress, rather like a dresden doll. Fred always marveled that a child as full of mischief as Lizzy could look so delicate. He felt a stab of pain through his heart at the thought that this might be his very last day with her.

"Hi Fred!" she exclaimed delightedly when she saw him. "Where've you been?"

"Oh, out and about," replied Fred a little more evasively than usual. "Say what've you got on? You look like a girl! Yuck!"

"I am a girl, Fred!"

"Oh yeah. Well sometimes I forget. Did the Mega-Beast dress you in that?"

"Yes, do you like it?"

"It's pink! Pink is the most dis-gust-ing color ever! I would NEVER wear pink!"

Lizzy giggled at the thought. "Are you coming to my party Fred?"

"But of course! Do you think you can actually have a party without Drop Dead Fred?"

"I guess not," said Lizzy, beaming. At that moment they heard Polly calling Lizzy downstairs. "Come on Fred! It's almost time!"

"Hold on, I forgot to give you something," said Fred. He picked his nose and wiped it on Lizzy's face. "Happy Birthday Snotface!"

"Oh gross, Fred!" Lizzy scrubbed her face indignantly. Fred chuckled. Then he said. "I've got something else for you too," and he pulled out a little bouquet of flowers picked from the garden of Limbo and held them out to her. They were so bright, they practically lit up the room.

"Oooo Fred! How pretty!" Lizzy took the flowers and sniffed them appreciatively. "Mmm, they smell so good!" She looked at him and actually blushed. "Thanks Fred."

He smiled at her, gently brushing a few stray tendrils of dark hair back from her face. Lizzy put her little arms around his neck and hugged him. He let himself hold her close for a few moments, wishing he could hold her forever. "Happy Birthday, Snotface," he whispered, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Elisabeth!" Polly shouted from downstairs! "Come down! Your guests are arriving!"

Lizzy broke free from Fred's arms. "Come on!" she said excitedly. "Let's go to the party!" She grabbed Fred's hand and they ran downstairs together.

Fred normally enjoyed a party more than anybody, but today he found himself struggling to get into the spirit of it. For one thing, the impending question he was going to have to ask Lizzy weighed heavily on his mind. For another, he didn't like any of the people there except Lizzy and maybe her father. The only other people he knew were the Bunce family from next door. All the others were members of Polly's social club or Nigel's co-workers. The other children all belonged to them. None of them were really friends of Lizzy's. Most of the grown-ups were of the snobbish, social-elite brand -- the sort of people Fred hated. Several of the children were insufferable little brats who did anything but make Lizzy feel special. Fred marked them out as people to pay extra attention to. He sneaked a beetle into the hair of a rather stuck-up little girl who told Lizzy her dress was ugly. He tripped a boy who cheated at a game causing Lizzy to lose. The boy fell face-first into the goldfish pond ruining his tailored clothes. He put ice down the dresses of several of Polly's friends and stuck globs of ice cream on the seats of some of the chairs. The resulting screams were most satisfactory.

But when it came time for Lizzy to blow out her candles, Fred hovered over her like a protective watch-dog. He was determined that nothing would ruin this moment for his Snotface. The adults and children (many in various forms of discomfort) sang happy birthday and Lizzy blew out her candles with no interruption. Fred chose to behave for the most part during the cake cutting process, except that he couldn't resist running his finger through the pink icing and smearing it in Polly's hair.

Lizzy seemed to enjoy herself for the most part. She mostly stayed close to Mickey and avoided the other children when possible. Fred was glad. He was proud of her for recognizing who her true friends were and not trying to impress those who didn't care about her. He felt a little hurt that she didn't pay more attention to him, but then perhaps that was to be expected.

Altogether, he felt like he had done his duty as an imaginary friend by making the party fun for Lizzy while making it as uncomfortable as possible for those who deserved it.

When the guests had all gone home and Nigel and Polly were cleaning up the mess in the front yard (Polly still sniffling miserably over the icing in her hair and the various disasters that had occurred throughout the day) Lizzy climbed the stairs to her room to look over her birthday presents. Fred followed her, unseen. He watched as she pulled out each of her gifts, smiling over them and examining them carefully. Ordinarily, he would've been right next to her, joining in the fun. But with the distraction of the party over, his heart was sinking lower and lower. Finally, he couldn't bear it any longer. He materialized in the big, stuffed, pink armchair that sat in a corner of the room. Lizzy looked up.

"Hi Fred! Did you have fun at my party?"

"Loads of fun," he smiled. "Did you like the beetle I put in Samantha Morris's hair?"

Lizzy giggled. "Yeah. She really had it coming!"

"She sure did." He said no more, but watched her play with her toys in silence. After a while, Lizzy looked up. "You wanna come help me cut out these paper dolls, Fred? We can cut them out and then make a snowstorm for them out of all the little bits of paper left over."

"You go ahead, Snotface. I'll just watch."

Lizzy frowned. "Are you feeling alright Fred?"

Fred swallowed. "Never better."

"Are you sure? How come you don't want to play?" Fred had _never_ turned down an opportunity to play.

"Oh, you know. Long day. Too much excitement."

Lizzy eyed him like she thought he was going crazy, but she let him be.

Finally Fred cleared his throat. "Snotface," he said quietly.

She looked up expectantly.

"You -- you like Mickey a lot, don't you?"

Lizzy frowned. "Mickey Bunce?"

"Yeah. Mickey Bunce Fartpants." He spat the name out as if it tasted bad on his tongue.

"Yes, I like Mickey."

"Well, I was just wondering... if you... if you... would rather... well, have him for a friend than me...?"

Lizzy stopped what she was doing and looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"I was just wondering if you were tired of having me around; if you'd rather just have Mickey. I-I mean, if you'd like me to go away and not be your friend any more then I'd completely understand..." Fred felt like someone was squeezing his heart to death in his chest. It had never hurt him so much to say a few words.

Lizzy stared at him blankly. "What do you mean Fred?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean? Didn't you understand what I just said?" His pain made him speak harshly. "Look Snotface, you're getting older. Maybe you're too old to have an imaginary friend any more. I've just noticed that you seem to like spending a lot of time with Mickey. All I'm saying is that if you'd rather not have me around any more... then I'll go. It might be for the best." He was making a terrible job of this. He wished it were over.

Lizzy sat as if frozen. "Why would I want you to leave?" she whispered. "You're my best friend."

Fred waved impatiently with his hand. "Yes, yes," he said roughly. "But you're getting older, Lizzy. It might be time for you to have real friends now... not imaginary ones..."

He stopped suddenly at the look on Lizzy's face. She had gone as white as a sheet. Her big, dark eyes were wild with hurt and fear. "Don't you... don't you want me anymore, Fred?" she whispered.

In an instant, he saw what he had done. He stared at her stunned. If he had suddenly plunged a knife in her heart, she couldn't have looked more wounded and shocked. "Oh Snotface!" he cried. "Of course I want you! That's not what I meant at all! I just meant... I only meant..."

"You don't want to be my friend anymore," said Lizzy on the verge of tears. "You're tired of me. I should've known this would happen. Mommy says no one really likes me because I'm so bad. I thought you did..."

Fred could bear it no more. Sick with remorse, he gathered her up into his arms and folded her to his heart. "Lizzy, no, no, no, no... oh Sweetheart, no. I like you better than anyone... and I want you for my friend more than anything... I only meant..." he trailed off, on the verge of tears himself.

"Don't leave me, Fred," Lizzy whispered, tears streaming down her face. "Please don't leave me."

"I won't," he whispered back. "I won't. Not ever. I'll stay with you forever, even if you're too old for me, I'll stay..."

Lizzy wrapped her arms around his neck and burrowed her face against him. "I'll always want you, Fred."

Fred felt a rush of love flood his heart. It was so fierce, it slammed into his chest like a tidal wave. He sank down on the armchair, holding Lizzy close. "Okay," he whispered. "Okay, Lizzy." He knew that everything they were saying was against protocol, but he didn't care. He would say what he had to to comfort his little Snotface... his little Snotface whom he had hurt so deeply...

Lizzy lifted her tearstained face from his shoulder and looked at him. "I like Mickey," she said thickly. "But I like you more, Fred. Can't I be friends with both of you?"

"Of course, of course," he soothed, stroking her hair. "I just wondered if I was becoming a nuisance. I mean, I _am_ always getting you into trouble."

"I'd be getting into trouble whether you were here or not, Fred." said Lizzy dully. "At least you make getting into trouble fun."

Fred's heart ached. He knew she was right. She would never be able to please Polly. Might as well have some fun while she was at it.

He sat in the armchair and held her for a long time. He got one of her new stuffed animals and made it talk to her until she was smiling again. By that time, Polly came up to put Lizzy to bed. She scolded her for making such a mess with her presents and made her clean them up. Then she tucked Lizzy in bed, told her happy birthday stiffly, and left without a goodnight kiss.

Fred sat in the armchair and watched. He knew for certain now, Lizzy wasn't through with him yet... nor would she be for a long time. The Mega-Beast was alive and well and causing damage. It was definitely Fred she needed, not Mickey, to help her battle the Beast and eventually win her freedom. He would have to leave her someday, but hopefully not for a long time. He hoped fervently that when that time came, the parting would not be nearly so painful as what he had experienced today. Deep down inside, he knew that this was probably impossible. He had fallen into what the Powers-That-Be had always warned against. He had gotten too close, let himself care too much. He had doomed himself to heartache, no matter what the circumstances were.

Fred felt exhausted, a sensation he was very unused to. He went over to where Lizzy was snuggled in her bed, already fast asleep. She had carefully placed her little bouquet of flowers in a vase beside the bed and filled it with water. Polly couldn't see the flowers and had asked Lizzy why she had an empty vase filled with water next to the bed. "They have my flowers in them from Drop Dead Fred," explained Lizzy patiently. "Aren't they beautiful?" Polly just rolled her eyes.

Fred smiled to himself. He tucked the covers in more securely around her and kissed her tenderly. "Goodnight Snotface," he murmured. Then he willed himself to Limbo where he made himself a soft nest in the flexible atmosphere and cast himself into a dreamless sleep.


	3. The JackInTheBox Incident

**Title: **A Parallel Universe - The Jack-In-The-Box Incident

**Author: **Strella Smith

**Pairings: **Eventual Fred/Lizzy

**Rating: **G

Lizzy was very clingy with Fred over the next several weeks. And if he was a little gentler with her and little more protective than usual, who could blame him? He had to assuage his guilt over hurting her somehow. He disappeared less often than he used to and he didn't complain about Mickey as much. The Mega-Beast managed to be rather decent to Lizzy for a while, so there was a period of peace in the Cronin household.

But nothing lasts, and after a while Lizzy forgot her hurt feelings and Fred's guilt began to fade. Polly said something cruel to Lizzy one day and soon Fred was up to his old tricks. He emptied a bottle of Polly's expensive perfume and filled it with cooking sherry. A flurry of gossip went around at Polly's country club the next time she visited it that she was *ahem* taking a few drops of something to help her cope. Polly was mortified and of course blamed Lizzy for it. Fred was beginning to wonder if the Mega-Beast was ever going to catch on to the fact that every time she did something horrible to Lizzy, something equally horrible happened to her.

Then there was the incident with playing burglars. Things had been too quiet for Fred for several weeks and he decided it was time to shake things up a bit. He got the brilliant idea to burglarize their own house. He woke Lizzy up in the dead of night and showed her a sweater he had streaked with black stripes. He told her they were going to play "real" burglars. She jumped at the chance of course.

They had a fine time, loading a black garbage sack with "treasures" from the house. They emptied the silverware drawer, the desk drawer where Nigel's expensive pens were kept and were turning their attentions to the china cabinet, when Lizzy stood too close to a vase of gladiolas. Lizzy had always been allergic to gladiolas and yet Polly insisted on keeping them around the house because they were her favorite flower. Unfortunately, whenever Lizzy sneezed and Fred happened to be in the vicinity, the force of her sneeze always sent him flying backward through the air. Neither of them knew why this happened and Fred was always emptying out vases of gladiolas so as to protect himself from rocketing painfully around the house all the time.

Polly had managed to sneak these in without his knowledge, however and Lizzy was standing right next to them when he was going to the china cabinet. "Oh no!" gasped Fred spotting the culprit flowers. "Gladiolas!" Of course Lizzy sneezed and of course he went flying backward, straight into the china cabinet, crashing against it with an earth-shattering noise. Upstairs, Polly and Nigel awoke and called the police, thinking that there were real burglars in the house. The phone call had just gone through when Fred decided to cut the phone line and steal the phone because "that's where the diamonds were hidden." Then he and Lizzy decided to make their get-away and hide their treasure in a hole in the flower bed. They had to break a window in order to do this and the resulting sound of shattering glass only proved to further terrify Nigel and Polly.

The whole incident wound up with the police entering the house unbeknownst to Polly and Nigel, Nigel mistaking the policeman for the burglar and tackling him on the stairs, and finally Nigel being arrested and hauled off to jail for "burglarizing his own house", or so the officer said. Fred was going to take the rap for it, but the policemen paid no attention to the little girl who kept calling out that "Drop Dead Fred did it!"

Polly had hysterics, not because the house had been burglarized, but because Nigel got taken to jail and she was in terror of what the neighbors would think. The police found the bag of "stolen" goods in the front flower bed and everything was returned safely. The only real damage done was the broken window and a few broken pieces of crockery.

Fred and Lizzy both decided that it would be better to keep mum about what had really happened. Fred saw to it that Lizzy sneaked back up to her bed before her mother saw her in the front yard and suspected something. Polly never did suspect. She always remained convinced that they had been burglarized by some strange people who liked silverware, pens and phones! She wondered however, how Lizzy had gotten crooked, black stripes on one of her sweaters.

After the burglary prank, Fred decided to lay low for a while and there was another short reign of peace until the incident with the Jack-In-The-Box. Neither Fred nor Lizzy knew it, but their entire futures would hinge on this episode of conflict in the Cronin house.

It all begin with Lizzy wanting to cut her hair. It had been an ongoing feud between Lizzy and Polly for a couple of years now over the length of Lizzy's hair. Polly had not allowed it to be cut since Lizzy was born. It was beautiful hair, long and shiny and black as molasses, but Lizzy considered it to be a nuisance. It was always getting in her way. She was constantly putting it up in a ponytail or a braid and she begged Polly at intervals to let her cut it. Polly always refused. "You have beautiful hair, Elisabeth," she would say, looking offended as if she considered Lizzy's desire for a trim to be a personal insult. "Why do you want to cut it?"

"It's hot," complained Lizzy. "And it takes forever to wash. Please may I get a bob like Lisa Taylor? I like her hair so much!"

But Polly refused. Fred suspected that it was simply because it was yet another area of Lizzy's life that she could control, not because she was so keen on long hair. He didn't think much of it. He never paid much attention to the stupid little conflicts between women-folk concerning hair and clothes and the like. He probably never would've decided to meddle with Lizzy's hair if the Mega-Beast hadn't done something particularly nasty right during a period when Lizzy was hankering to get her hair cut.

Lizzy had a favorite teddy bear given to her by her father when she was born. Next to Fred, she probably loved that bear more than anything in the world. One day she took it with her to park and she and Fred made rock piles in the gravel and stuck tree branches in the tops of them to make forts with flags. Then they rounded up beetles and ants and waged a war between them to see who was the strongest. They decided that the ants won (although it wasn't much of a battle since their armies mostly tried to run away rather than fight). They set up Teddy as king over the ants afterward and he got very dusty sitting in the gravel with a crown of dandelions on his fuzzy head.

When Lizzy came home that evening, she was quite dusty herself and Polly scolded her for tracking dirt into her immaculate house. She sent her upstairs to take a bath. While Lizzy was bathing, she did something unspeakable. She threw Teddy away. Lizzy did not miss him until she was going to bed that night.

"Mommy, have you seen Teddy?" she asked anxiously. She had searched her room thoroughly more than once and Teddy was no where to be found.

"Yes," said Polly shortly. "I threw it away."

Lizzy froze in her tracks. "What?" she cried out. Fred who had been listening to the conversation suddenly materialized and shouted "What?" at Polly too.

Polly surveyed Lizzy coldly. "I threw it away," she repeated. "Surely you didn't want to keep that old thing after you got it so dirty, Elisabeth."

"Yes, yes, I did!" cried Lizzy beginning to sob. "I want my Teddy back! Go get my Teddy!"

"Go get her Teddy!" roared Fred.

"No, I will not go get your Teddy. It's in the big bin outside already and I am not digging through that for one stuffed animal. Really, Elisabeth, you are too old to be lugging a bear around with you anyway. And it was so filthy! I don't want something like that in my house."

Lizzy flung herself on the bed, sobbing as if her heart would break.

"You can't do that!" Fred shouted at the Mega-Beast. "You just can't do that! You're horrible!"

"Elisabeth, stop these hysterics. You're being ridiculous."

"Teddy will get cold and lonely," wept Lizzy. "Please, please let me go look for him."

"No you will not. You need to be a big girl and learn to get by without a bear. Now stop this nonsense and go to bed. No don't argue with me, get in that bed. If you keep complaining, I'll take another toy and throw it away too."

Lizzy crept to her bed, utterly crushed. Polly snapped off the light and marched out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Left alone, Lizzy put her little hands over her face and began to cry quietly. A few moments later, she felt a gentle arm slip around her shoulders and pull her into a tight hug.

"Oh Fred," she sobbed. "Mommy took Teddy away. I'm going to miss him so much."

"I know," whispered Fred. "I'm so sorry Snotface. I'll make her pay for this. I swear I will." He said it through gritted teeth because he was so furiously angry. He held Lizzy until she cried herself to sleep, then laid her back down and went away to plot his revenge. He wanted to do something that would really, really anger the Mega-Beast. Something that would hurt her as much as she had hurt his Snotface.

He did not hit upon a plan until a few days later. Lizzy remained heartbroken over Teddy, but she did not dare show it to her mother for fear of the threat of losing more toys. Fred was growing afraid for Lizzy again. Her fighting spirit was being crushed. She was becoming more and more afraid of her mother. Fred was getting desperate. He decided to do something really drastic, something that would anger the Mega-Beast and give Lizzy a chance to assert herself once again.

That night, as Lizzy lay sleeping, Fred sneaked a pair of shears out of Polly's sewing basket. He went into Lizzy's room and whack, whack, whack! He cut a big chunk right out of her long hair!

Elated over his plan, Fred tickled Lizzy's face with the chunk of hair and whispered loudly, "'Lisabeth wake up! Wake up!" Lizzy did not awaken. "Snotface!" whispered Fred again. "Wake up and see what I've done!"

Lizzy woke up. At first she wasn't terribly pleased over what he had done to her hair, but when he explained the plan to her, she began to smile. The Mega-Beast would _have_ to let her cut her hair now!

Of course there was hell to pay in the morning. Polly wailed in horror when she saw the sad mess that had been Lizzy's long hair. "Why, _why_ would you do this to yourself?" the Mega-Beast demanded.

"_I_ didn't do it, Drop Dead Fred did," said Lizzy comfortably. Polly's eyes narrowed. She said no more, but marched away to get her scissors. She stood Lizzy on a chair in the dining room and proceeded to cut her hair off at the place where Fred had snipped it away. It wasn't as short as Lizzy wanted it, but it was better than before.

"Elisabeth, you've made a mess of your beautiful hair," lamented Polly. "The time has come when we don't want to hear the words 'Drop Dead Fred' ever again!" She snapped viciously at a lock of hair with the scissors as though to make her point. "Don't you agree, Nigel?"

Lizzy's father was seated at the table, eating his breakfast and absorbed in his newspaper. He glanced up at Polly's words. "Hmm? About what?"

Polly glared at him. "This 'Drop Dead Fred' business!" Nigel just sighed and straightened his paper. In the process, he knocked the box of corn flakes off the table. Polly gasped in exasperation. "I'm sorry, Pol," said Nigel. Lizzy stooped to try and pick up the spilled cereal. "No, no," said Polly crossly. "Stand still, I'll clean it later!"

Lizzy eyed the cornflakes longingly. "Can I have some cereal?"

Polly rolled her eyes exasperatedly again. "_May_ I have some cereal? Yes you may, in just a minute. We don't eat food off the floor."

Nigel was watching the hair-cutting process with a twinkle of amusement in his eye. "Honey, why do you call him 'Drop Dead Fred?'"

"Because that's his name, Daddy," said Lizzy sweetly. "And Drop Dead Fred is going to teach me how to cook today. I'm going to need flour and sugar and honey and vodka and a pair of your pants. We're making pants pie! Ouch!" She suddenly screamed. Polly had tugged viciously at her hair.

"Vodka and pants pie," said Polly venomously, looking at Nigel. "God knows what else."

Nigel got up from the table. "She's only a kid, Polly," he said shortly. He went to the window and opened it.

Lizzy suddenly had a brilliant idea. "Daddy!" she said excitedly. "How about we throw Mommy out the window? It won't hurt her! She'll land right in the Gladiolies!"

Nigel came up to Lizzy and tickled her gently around the middle. Lizzy squeaked happily. "You shouldn't say things like that about your mother," he said, chucking Lizzy under the chin. Under his breath he added, "she might cut your head off."

Polly lifted Lizzy off the chair and set her roughly on the floor. "Very funny, Elisabeth," she sniffed angrily. "Sometimes I think I don't love you as much as I used to."

"Drop Dead Fred does!" cried Lizzy triumphantly.

"No more Drop Dead Fred!" shouted Polly. "Period!"

She marched out of the room with the towel of hair clippings. Lizzy sat unhappily on the chair. Fred chose that moment to materialize before her.

"Hi Fred!" said Lizzy brightening at once.

"Well you're completely wrong, you know," Fred told her loftily. "'Cause I _don't_ love you, 'cause I don't love anyone, 'cause love is for girls and girls are dis-gus-ting!" He made a pansy sort of gesture with his hands. He couldn't have told a greater lie, of course, but he wasn't going to let Lizzy know how he adored her. Lizzy knew better, of course. She just tossed her head and laughed good-naturedly.

"'Cause I'm a loner!" continued Fred dramatically. "I'm a crazy, wild-eyed loner on a doomed space mission to Venus, to battle with the three-headed Mega-Beast! But on the way there, I caught corn flakes disease!" He opened his jacket and the spilled corn flakes started flying around wildly around him. He screamed in mock distress. Lizzy squealed with delight and danced amidst the corn flakes tornado.

"Pants pie can't save me now!" cried Fred. "The only thing that can save me... is a MUD PIE!"

"Yay!" screamed Lizzy. "Come on!" shouted Fred. He grabbed her hand and they dashed over to the open window. Fred climbed out to get the mud. Lizzy went over to the china cabinet to get out one of her mother's china bowls. Fred climbed in through the window with an enormous armful of clumped dirt. He dropped it with a thud into the china bowl. It was bigger than the bowl and slopped beautifully over the sides of it.

"Wow, my first real mud pie!" cried Lizzy happily.

"Yeah, but it's not ready yet," Fred told her. "We need lots of other things. We need... corn flakes... orange juice..." The mud pie was getting wetter all the time. "Beautiful," said Fred happily. "It's so fun!" cried Lizzy in delight. "Tea!" said Fred, pouring it liberally over the pile of sticky mud. "Sugar?" suggested Lizzy. "Yeah." Fred grabbed the milk. "Milk!" The mud pie was now an enormous mess of wet dirt, corn flakes and various liquids. It was oozing squishily over Polly's lace tablecloth.

"Hmm, but it's still too pretty, you see," said Fred critically. "We need... I know!" He reached over and grabbed Lizzy's jack-in-the-box which was sitting on the table. He opened it and wrenched out the rubber jack on a spring. He placed it squarely in the middle of the mud pie. "That's great!" he said happily. "You see, if something's not working right, the best thing is to tear it apart to make it better!"

At that moment, Polly's voice drifted suspiciously in from the kitchen. "Elisabeth? Are you behaving in there?"

Fred and Lizzy looked at each other worriedly. "I'm not afraid of the Mega-Beast!" exclaimed Fred with much bravado.

"I'm not either!" said Lizzy resolutely, not to be outdone. "When she comes in here, we're gonna make her eat up all this mud!"

"Yeah!" shouted Fred, delighted at the direction his prank was taking. "And then we'll cut her head off!"

"With scissors!" suggested Lizzy with relish.

"Yeah! And then we'll make her eat it!"

"Make her eat her own head?" Lizzy looked at Fred askance.

"Yeah!"

"With what?" Lizzy pointed out practically.

Fred looked rather foolish. "Oh yeah... well _I'll_ eat her head then!"

"And I'll eat the rest of her!"

"Yeah! And then we'll get up..." Fred climbed onto the table. "And we'll POO her all over the table! 'Cause we're not afraid of anything!"

"Yeah!" cried Lizzy, grabbing Fred's hands.

"Yeah!" cried Fred, grabbing hers back. They exchanged a complicated sort of handshake shouting "Yeah!" all the time.

"Elisabeth?" came Polly's voice again.

Their swagger evaporated in an instant. "Quick! Hide!" gasped Fred. For some reason Lizzy snatched up the broken jack-in-the-box as she quickly sat down in a chair. Fred, still standing on the table motioned for her to open it. "'Lisabeth! Hurry up! Hurry up!" he gasped. Lizzy hurriedly opened the box and Fred leaped into it, making himself small as he did so. He disappeared completely, and Lizzy slammed the lid shut.

A few seconds later, Polly walked into the room carrying a vacuum cleaner. She stopped dead in horror at the sight of the mess on the dining room table. Open-mouthed, she walked all around it, surveying the damage as if it were a war-zone. "What," she whispered, "is _wrong_ with you?"

Something in her tone frightened Lizzy. She realized that maybe this time, they had gone just a little too far. She cowered in her chair clutching the jack-in-the-box for dear life. Polly towered over her daughter in quiet rage. "You've been playing with _him_, haven't you?" she asked in a deadly voice. Lizzy did not dare answer.

"Where IS he?" demanded Polly, advancing on Lizzy threateningly. She caught sight of the jack-in-the-box and instinctively reached for it. Lizzy made the mistake of crying out in protest. Polly instantly snatched it out of her hands. "Don't!" Lizzy screamed. "Don't take him away from me!"

"Oh," said Polly viciously. "So _that's_ what makes you cry, huh? Well now _I_ know what to do!"

"Give me him!" Lizzy shrieked in a panic.

Polly marched out of the room, jack-in-the-box in hand.

"Don't!" Lizzy wailed. "Don't take him away from me!"

She ran to her father who had come in to see what the commotion was about. Nigel took Lizzy into his arms and tried to comfort her.

But Polly was inexorable. She took Fred's little square prison and bound it over and over again with masking tape, ignoring Lizzy's sobs and Nigel's protests that it wasn't right.

"What would _you_ know about raising a child?" snapped Polly.

Nigel snatched up his coat and car keys and made for the door. "Apparently nothing!" he spat back before slamming the door behind him.

Polly finished binding the jack-in-the-box and marched over to where Lizzy sat in a heap of misery on the stairs. "Elisabeth," she said ominously. "If you ever touch this again, I'm gonna throw it in the trash. And do you know what will happen next? He will be crushed to death." Lizzy cowered in horror. Polly marched up the stairs with the box. Lizzy sat rubbing her eyes for a minute. Then mechanically she got up, went into the dining room and started scooping up corn flakes off the floor and dropping them back into the box.

Inside the jack-in-the-box, Fred could hear every thing that had gone on. He shouted and banged in fury when he realized he was in the hands of the Mega-Beast, but it was to no avail. He could hear Lizzy's screams of grief and the scraping sound of the tape as it fettered him within the box. He shouted for Snotface until he was hoarse. After a while everything became silent.

Fred never was sure of how long he was trapped in that wretched little box. It could've been hours, days, weeks. Lizzy was never very sure herself. They only both knew that it was the longest, darkest period they had yet known.

. . .

Fred awoke from a strange dream. He had dreamed that he had been stuck in the jack-in-the-box for years and years and years. One day, someone finally let him out. He jumped out, and was overjoyed at the sight of the dark-haired figure on Lizzy's bed. "Hi Snotface!" he had shouted in the dream, but when Lizzy turned around, she wasn't Snotface any more. A slim, dark-haired young woman sat in her place; a young woman with a pretty, pixyish face and the saddest eyes he had ever seen. The woman stared at him curiously, as if she wasn't quite sure who he was. He felt a sickening jolt of horror. Had he been in the jack-in-the-box _that_ long? Had Lizzy actually... grown up? He awoke from the dream in a cold sweat. He looked around the darkness desperately. "Help!" he yelled irrationally. "Someone help me! I've got to get out of here!"

All at once, to his utter shock, a voice answered him out of the darkness. "All right, all right, stop bellowing! We hear you!"

Fred reached out, feverishly trying to feel the speaker. "I'm right here," said the voice indignantly. "Do stop lumbering around. It won't do you any good."

Fred suddenly recognized the voice. "Sagacity?" he said incredulously.

"Yes, it's me," said Sagacity's voice rather crossly. "What a fine mess you've gotten yourself into this time, Fred, taped up in a jack-in-the-box. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

"I am," said Fred fiercely. "Just tell me how to get out of here so I can get back to Snotface."

"Well, that's what I'm here about," said Sagacity. "We've been watching this nice little disaster you've created and we decided that this one time, we need to intervene."

"What do you mean?"

"You are not capable of getting yourself out of the jack-in-the-box. Lizzy is too terrified to try. Under ordinary circumstances, you would be doomed to remain in here until someone let you out. However, the counsel has been talking over your case. We've decided that the seriousness of the circumstances merits us getting involved. We've been watching your little Lizzy, and we foresee that, without your presence in her life, her spirit will be utterly crushed. She will go through life emotionally stunted until she can be reunited with you. We are going to send someone to contact Nigel, her father, and prompt him to set you free. If he succeeds, you must begin to take special precautions. Lizzy's mother is a dangerous woman, not only to you but to Lizzy. You must take care for both of your safeties."

"I will," said Fred, frightened by the soberness of Sagacity's voice. "Oh Sagacity, do -- do you think Nigel will let me out? I can't just abandon Elisabeth! I don't want her to be crushed by the Mega-Beast! I must, I _must_ get back to her!"

"We can only try," said Sagacity grimly. "We can't guarantee that he will cooperate. Nigel is a good man, but he is weak and cowed by his wife. Men like that are hard to communicate with. We will try though."

"Sagacity!"

"Yes Fred?"

"I-I've _got_ to get back to her! I had a dream that I didn't until she was grown up. It was terrible. I saw how sad she was. She looked at me and I could tell she barely recognized me! It was the worst dream I've ever had!"

Fred couldn't see Sagacity, but he felt her reach out and gently pat his shoulder. "We'll do our best Fred. I have to go now. Good luck."

Fred sank down in the darkness trembling. He couldn't bear the thought of being trapped in here for years and years while his little Snotface was being terrorized and bullied by that demon of a mother. He _must_ get out! He must! He waited for a long time. Nothing happened. Eventually, he fell into a fitful sleep which was haunted by dreams of Mega-Beasts looming over tiny, frightened little girls who cried out to him for help.

He was awakened by a scraping noise. Then all of a sudden, bright light flooded his little prison. He squinted up to see Nigel's face peering down into the jack-in-the-box. Nigel said nothing but he set the box down and his face disappeared. Fred sat for a moment, completely stunned. It had worked! Whatever the Powers-That-Be had done, had worked! With a yell of joy, he rocketed out of the box. He was free!

He looked around him, still blinking in the bright light. He was in Lizzy's room. Nigel had gone. It was early morning from the look of things. There was Lizzy, huddled in her bed, still sound asleep. Fred felt a rush of adoration. She was still a little girl, still his little Snotface. She hadn't grown up without him after all. He sat down on the edge of the bed, and stroked her hair. Lizzy stirred in her sleep, turning her little face toward him. He saw with a jolt of pain, that there were traces of tears on her face. He bent and softly kissed her cheek.

Her eyes fluttered open and she stared up at him in confusion for a moment. Then "_Fred_!" And she flung herself into his arms. He hugged her tightly. "Hi Snotface."

Lizzy held on to him as if for dear life. "Oh Fred, Fred, I thought I had lost you forever! How did you get out of that jack-in-the-box?"

Fred beamed at her. "Your dad let me out."

"He _did_?"

"Yep."

Lizzy said no more but she hugged him to her so tight that she hurt him. "Hey, take it easy," said Fred laughing a little. But Lizzy clung to him desperately. "I thought I'd never see you again," she whispered.

"Oh Snotface, come on! Do you really think a little ol' jack-in-the-box could keep Drop Dead Fred away from you?"

She looked at him and he was startled to see how white and stricken her little face was. "Yes," she said simply. "It could. And it would've, if Daddy hadn't let you out."

He realized she was deadly serious. "Well, it's okay now, Lizzy. I'm here, and I'm not going into any more jack-in-the-boxes."

Lizzy kept her dark eyes fixed on him. Something in her gaze made him uncomfortable. She seemed... older, more serious. He wasn't sure he liked it.

"Fred, we have to be more careful from now on. Mommy watches me like a hawk. If she catches me talking to you or playing with you, she'll try to take you away from me again. I know she will."

Fred stared at her uneasily. He didn't quite know what to make of this new and more cautious Snotface. She seemed to have matured overnight. Had being alone with the Mega-Beast for such a short time changed her that much?

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" he inquired.

"I wrote you a letter," said Lizzy. "It's out in the garden shed. I hid it there so Mommy couldn't find it."

"What does it say?"

Lizzy closed her eyes and repeated it word for word as if she had memorized it. "Dear Drop Dead Fred, You were my only friend, but she took you away from me. I know I'll see you again... someday. If you come back, I promise we'll run away together." She opened her eyes and looked at him.

Fred smiled. "Well, here I am... I've come back. Do you still want to run away?" Lizzy nodded.

Fred squeezed her tight in his arms. "Snotface, we can run away for a little while if you want to, but we can't run away forever."

"Why not?"

Fred looked at her seriously. "Because you can't solve your problems that way. Running away from your problems only makes them worse. You have a Mega-Beast problem. You can't run away from it forever. You have to confront it, meet it head on and fight it!" He punched the air with his fist to emphasize his point.

"But Fred, I can't fight her anymore... she's too strong. I'm - I'm afraid of her."

"Well, that's the worst attitude you can have," said Fred reproachfully. "I'm afraid of the Mega-Beast so I'm just gonna give up! Shame on you! I thought you had more gumption than that."

"I did... but when she took you away from me..." Lizzy trailed off shaking her little dark head. "She knows how to hurt me now, Fred. I'm so afraid she'll find you and take you away again."

"Pish! She won't get me again!"

"You don't know that."

"Well, what do you suggest we do? Besides run away?"

"I can't talk about you anymore, Fred. I can't play with you where she can see me. I'll have to pretend like you're still in the jack-in-the-box."

Fred looked at her incredulously. "Well, I don't like that plan one little bit!" he exclaimed vehemently. "Where's the fun in that? Besides, if we operate that way... well... don't you see? The Mega-Beast has won! She's controlling us. We can't let that happen."

Lizzy was silent. Fred squeezed her again. "Look, Snotface, if you start letting _her_ call the shots, you'll never learn to stand up for yourself. And then you'll be trapped forever... like I almost was in that box. You'll have to take a risk. _I'll_ have to take a risk. But it's worth it."

Lizzy looked up at him and he saw fear in her eyes. "Fred, you don't know what it's been like around here without you. I _can't_ let Mommy take you away from me again. I've been so unhappy."

"If you let her control you, you'll be unhappy anyway," said Fred quietly. "You can't let people control you with fear."

"But I _am_ afraid."

"Look," said Fred. "Think of it this way: the Mega-Beast is a big, huge horrible monster. But she can't really hurt you in anyway except through fear. That's her one weapon. If you listen to her, if you let her get under your skin, then she can hurt you, make you afraid. If you don't, if you listen to yourself, if you just sort of let her roll off your back... well then you've won! And she can't hurt you anymore. But you've got to stand up for yourself. You've got to be strong, no matter what!" He squeezed her again. "And that's where I come in. I'll be here for you, I'll cheer you on, I'll show you how to be strong, just like I've always done."

Lizzy was silent, thinking.

"Look," said Fred. "I'm going to give you some magic words to say: whenever the Mega-Beast pulls out her weapon and tries to make you afraid, I want you to say these words, either to yourself or out loud to her. Repeat after me: 'I'm. Not. Afraid. Of. You.'"

Lizzy eyed him skeptically. "_Those_ are the magic words?"

"Say them!"

"Okay," Lizzy sighed. "I'm not afraid of you."

"No, no, no! Say them like you mean them!"

"I'm not afraid of you!"

"Once more, with feeling!"

"I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!"

"Much better!" shouted Fred. Lizzy actually smiled. "Now, the real test will be to see if you can say them to the Mega-Beast. Remember, those words are _your_ weapon! You've got to fight her with them!"

"Okay..." Lizzy conceded slowly. "I guess I can do that. But Fred, I'm still not letting her know Daddy let you out. I just don't think it would do any good. And I'm not going to talk about you to her anymore. We can still do things together... but I'm not going say that you did them. _I'll_ take the blame for everything. I don't care what you say, there's some risks I won't take. It's too dangerous."

Fred opened his mouth to protest, but he suddenly remembered Sagacity's words "Lizzy's mother is a dangerous woman, not only to you but to Lizzy. You must take care for both your safeties."

He sighed. "Okay, Snotface, you win. We won't let the Mega-Beast know I escaped. But that's not going to stop me from doing things to her. You've got to let me have a _little_ fun!"

Lizzy smiled. "Okay, Fred. Deal." She held out her pinky and he shook it.

"Now, let's run away for just a _little_ while. Where would you like to go?"

Lizzy smiled. "How 'bout the park again? We can take sandwiches and stay all day long!"

"Yeah!" said Fred.

"Yeah!"

At that moment, Nigel opened the door and peeked in. Lizzy flew to him and threw her arms around him. "Daddy, Daddy, you let Fred out! You let him out! Thank you so much!"

Nigel held his daughter close. "You're welcome, honey. But listen, this has to be our little secret, okay? If your mother finds out, we'll both be in big trouble."

"Yes, Daddy."

"And Elisabeth?"

"Yes Daddy?"

"How about you and Drop Dead Fred not make anymore mud pies in the dining room? Hmm? I think mud is better outdoors."

"Okay Daddy!"

"That's my girl." He kissed her. "Now give me that jack-in-the-box. I'm going to tape it up again and put it back where your mother had it. That way she won't know we ever messed with it."

Lizzy gave it to him and he took it away. Lizzy turned back to Fred. He held out his hand and she took it and together they snuck down to the kitchen to pack their get away lunch.


	4. Divorce

**Title: **A Parallel Universe - Divorce

**Author: **Strella Smith

**Pairings: **Eventual Fred/Lizzy

**Rating: **PG (For very mild language.)

Two years went by. Lizzy was nine. She showed no signs of forgetting Fred or desiring that he leave her life. Mickey Bunce moved away when she was eight. Fred tried to be sorry, but failed. At home, things continued to be difficult. Polly Cronin remained cold, controlling and at times even cruel. Nigel continued to be a kind but distant presence in Lizzy's life. Fred wished fervently that he would try to stand up to his wife, try to be more involved with his daughter. But wishing couldn't make it happen. Polly ruled with an iron fist. Much of the time, it took every ounce of Fred's inherent moxie to keep Lizzy's fighting spirit buoyed.

They made much use of the magic words. The first time Lizzy used them on her mother, Polly had stared at her in shock and then grounded her for being disrespectful. It had a rather dampening effect on Lizzy's outlook, but Fred encouraged her to keep using them, even if it meant punishment. "The more you use them, the more you'll begin to believe them." He told her. "Eventually they'll be true."

"There's fewer consequences if I just think them," said Lizzy ruefully.

"Well, just do what works then," said Fred. "But don't stop telling yourself that you're not afraid of her. Remember, that's your secret weapon."

Lizzy remained vigilant about keeping Fred's presence a secret. She would talk to him, play with him, do all sorts of fun things with him when Polly wasn't around, but as soon as her mother came on the scene, she froze up. Fred did not like this, but he knew it was for his own protection, so he had to accept the circumstances. He still played tricks on Polly, but he was finding them to be less and less satisfying since Lizzy nearly always got the blame (and accepted it quietly).

Things became a little more pleasant when Lizzy started attending a different elementary school. Polly had decided that the one she was in wasn't prestigious enough and so moved her to a small, expensive private school. Most of the students there were insufferably snobbish, but Lizzy made two rather good girlfriends and so it was worth it in the long run. Fred did not come with her to school much. He found it unbearably boring and Lizzy was not usually appreciative when he resorted to mayhem to liven things up. She was becoming a serious student and she would grumble that she didn't know how she was supposed to pass an English exam when her imaginary friend was hanging upside down from the ceiling making wisecracks all through the teacher's lesson. She stuck to her code of silence at school as well as at home, refusing to acknowledge his presence. She would resolutely shoulder the blame for his antics if it were called for, but he usually got an earful when she came home. This was not Fred's style at all. He didn't find it much fun to get Snotface in trouble when there was no purpose behind it and no glory in it for him.

On school days, he generally hung around the Cronin house and wreaked havoc there until Lizzy got home. This was a much more satisfying way of doing things because Lizzy was gone and so could not be blamed. The Mega-Beast often wondered out loud if their house wasn't possessed. Occasionally, Fred caught a glint in Nigel's eye that made him wonder if he didn't suspect who was behind the mischief. If he did, though, he didn't let on.

Two more years past. Lizzy turned eleven. Fred had now been with her for seven years, longer than he had ever been with any other child. Still Lizzy clung to him. Over the years, the nature of their relationship had been gradually changing. It was so subtle, it was practically imperceptible to both. This change was a very unusual thing with an imaginary friend and a charge. Most of the time, the friends were needed for such a limited period of time that they dealt with the children in only one stage of their lives: early childhood.

With Fred and Lizzy, this was not the case. At eleven, Lizzy was obviously no longer the same person that she had been at four. Her interests, preferences, and methods of coping were slowly evolving. While a mud pie might have comforted her at seven, at eleven it was merely an irritation. Fred was transforming from a playmate into a confidant and advisor. Lizzy always came to him first when she had a problem. Fred found himself making more and more trips to the mall and spending less and less time in the sandbox. The dolls and stuffed animals were gradually being replaced by pop music and fashion magazines. All of this was rather outside Fred's realm of experience, but he was game for it if it meant he got to stay with Snotface a little longer.

And of course things weren't completely different. Lizzy was still more than half child. She still loved to go play at the park, she was still keen for a good prank, she still screamed with laughter when Fred tickled her. He was still her best friend, despite the fact that she had branched out and had a small circle of friends at her school. They were all girls and Fred did not mind them coming around (although the giggling about boys got a bit old sometimes).

All in all, Fred was finding himself in new territory on an almost daily basis, but he was content. He knew his time with Lizzy was growing very short and he treasured every moment he had with her.

On the morning of Lizzy's twelfth birthday, Fred broke the record of having stayed with a charge longer than any imaginary friend ever had. Eight years, and still Lizzy showed no signs of tiring of him. Fred was due for a review with the Powers-That-Be that day and once again he was fighting the dread of losing her. It was even worse this time than it had been five years before. He knew the Powers-That-Be could cut him off from her at any moment. Judge Fair had said that they preferred to let children decide when to end things with their imaginary friends, but Fred had a feeling that the counsel had its limits.

He made a quick trip to Limbo before Lizzy awakened that morning and picked a bouquet of the brilliant flowers there. He brought them back and put them in a vase beside her bed so that they would be the first thing she saw when she woke up. This had become their own special birthday tradition. The flowers were the only true present Fred ever gave her (spit wads and wedgies didn't count, she said) and they were one of the few signs of his love for her that he ever let show. Lizzy loved them and treasured them more than any other present she received that day.

Fred arranged the flowers carefully and looked down at his sleeping charge. She looked so peaceful, fast asleep with her dark hair fanned out against the white pillow. Fred swallowed a lump in his throat. He wondered once again if this might be one of the last times he would see her. If the idea of parting from her had been difficult last time, it was now almost unbearable. He had been with her so long, he had practically forgotten what it was like to live without her. She had become the center of his whole world. He stooped and kissed her flushed cheek.

Without allowing himself to think about it any further, he shot like an arrow to Limbo. He landed with a thud and sat there for a moment, collecting his wits and rubbing the remaining moisture out of his eyes. Then he clenched his jaw and set off for the white counsel building. He had not gone very far before he encountered two people he knew. One was a small, lithe man with dark hair, dressed all in orange. The other was a large, fat, hairy man wearing a red tank top and shorts. He had a single, small curl right in the middle of his forehead. They both pulled up short in their tracks when they saw Fred.

"Drop Dead Fred! Well I'll be danged!" exclaimed the smaller man, breaking into a beam. "It's been ages since I've seen you up here!"

"Hello Velcrohead, Graggy." Fred greeted his two friends with a nod.

"Where have you been keeping yourself all this time?" Graggy wanted to know. "We literally haven't seen you in years."

"I'm on a case," Fred explained. "It's turned into a rather long one."

Velcrohead screwed up his face as if thinking hard. "The last I heard, you were with some little girl who had a real harpy for a mother. Are you still on that case or is it a different one?"

"It's the same case," Fred said quietly.

"Blimey, Fred, that's quite a stretch! How long has it been exactly?"

"Eight years today," replied Fred, swallowing hard.

"EIGHT years? Wow! That's got to be some kind of a record! Are you almost through?"

"I don't know. Probably. I'm on my way for a review right now."

"Whew!" said Graggy "I bet you're relived. Eight years. My cow, I've never had to be with a kid that long! She must have been a real basket case!"

"Not so much her, as her mother," said Fred trying not to flinch. "She's okay. I actually don't mind being with her at all."

"Well _that's_ good!" declared Graggy. "It always helps if you like a kid. Say Fred, if you're not doing anything after you get done with the review, you wanna pop over to the Star Stream Bar with us and have a few drinks? We need to catch up!"

Fred swallowed again. "I'd love to Grag, but today is Lizzy's birthday and I've got to be with her. Especially since I may be leaving her soon."

Velcrohead was watching Fred closely. "Say Freddy," he said quietly. "You okay? You don't look so good. Is everything all right?"

Fred tried to smile, but ended up looking rather sick. "Never better Velcro," he said resolutely. "Listen, I'm gonna be late for my review. I'll catch you chickens later."

"Okay Fred," they said. "Take care!" They both stood an watched him as he disappeared down the street. Graggy turned back to Velcro. "I've _never_ seen Fred act like that," he said nervously. "What d'you suppose is eating him?"

Velcro shook his head. "Dunno. But whatever it is, it's bad."

Fred made his way to the counsel building feeling like his feet were made of lead. Every step cost him an effort. When he reached the wall of portals, he stopped and found Lizzy's. She had waked up and was sitting in her bed, smelling his flowers and smiling. He watched her for a moment, his heart aching with love, then tore himself away and went on to the counsel's main room.

The review panel was there as usual, seated at their long table. Judge Fair glanced at Fred as he came in. Sagacity smiled at him. Fred took his position before the counsel and waited for the Judge to tell him to proceed. But this time the Judge did not say to. He sat looking over his notes and occasionally muttering to himself. The rest of the panel members sat silent.

Finally, Judge Fair looked up. "Well, Drop Dead Fred," he said. "This is an extraordinary day, both for you and for this counsel."

"Is it, sir?" inquired Fred, tonelessly.

The Judge actually laughed. "It certainly is. You've broken a record today! Eight years with the same companion! It's never been done before."

Fred cocked an eyebrow and said nothing.

"Well," said Judge Fair. "Let's have your report. I'm very curious to hear this one."

So Fred took a deep breath and proceeded. He had carefully planned out what he was going to say the night before. He talked at length about Lizzy's unhealthy relationship with Polly, emphasizing that _he_ was often the only person she had to turn to. He mentioned Nigel's lack of involvement with Lizzy. He downplayed Lizzy's age and the changing nature of their relationship and he made no mention at all of the length of time he had been with her. He wound it up by saying that while he was pleased with the progress Lizzy was making, he thought she still had a way to go as far as emotional maturity (implying strongly that she still needed him).

The panel listened, taking notes all the while. When Fred had finished, there was a long silence. Judge Fair scribbled something rapidly in his notebook. Eventually he looked up. "Well Fred," he said. "That was a good report. You've done well these past eight years. You're doing well now. We have been watching you and Elisabeth Cronin and we think that you've had a very positive impact on her life."

Fred took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He could hear a 'but' coming.

"But," said Judge Fair, "I think we all know that the real question here today is this one: should you continue to stay with Miss Cronin or is it finally time for you to leave her?"

Fred said nothing.

Judge Fair scrutinized him over his spectacles. "How old is Miss Cronin again, Fred?"

"Twelve," murmured Fred. "She's twelve years old today."

"And she, eh, shows no sign of tiring of your company?"

"None that I can see, sir. I'm still her best friend. Most of the time I'm the only person she has to talk to."

"Has she no other friends?"

"She has a few girlfriends at school," said Fred slowly. "But they're really just the kind of friends she has fun with. They don't know how to help her cope with her mother. She doesn't confide in them."

"Are you sure about that Fred?"

Fred swallowed. "Pretty sure, sir. I've been a witness to quite a few of their -er- slumber parties and trips to the mall and whatnot. They tend to talk about pretty shallow stuff. Which boys like them, what hairstyles look good, what clothes are fashionable... drivel like that."

Several of the counsel members exchanged looks. Fred noticed their mouths twitching. He felt his face go very red. "I just go along to keep an eye on Lizzy," he exclaimed defensively.

Judge Fair lifted one eyebrow. "No one questioned your motives, Fred," he said. "However, isn't all that... well, rather a change from mud pies and hide-and-seek?"

"Maybe," said Fred stubbornly. "It's just another form of entertainment."

"Lizzy is getting older," said the Judge wisely.

"Well obviously!" retorted Fred. "It would be a bit strange if she stayed a little girl forever."

"Fred, we know this isn't what you want to hear, but don't you think perhaps it's about time Lizzy moved on... let you go? She'll be a teenager soon. It's not exactly normal for a teenager to have an imaginary friend."

Fred closed his eyes, not wanting to hear. "Whatever happened to letting kids decide for themselves whether or not they need us?" he countered.

"Well..." the Judge thought for a moment. "Most of the time that is the way it works. However... occasionally we do come across a case where a child will hold on too long to a friend and the relationship becomes... unhealthy."

"Unhealthy how?" demanded Fred.

"It's only happened a few times, but there have been a couple of cases of seriously disturbed children who clung to their imaginary friends and the relationship descended into something like schizophrenia. They had to be hospitalized and treated for mental illness..."

"But Lizzy's not 'seriously disturbed'! cried Fred, incensed. "She's perfectly normal in every way. She just needs someone to talk to... someone to make her laugh... someone to help her be strong. That's what _I'm_ there for!"

"But don't you think it's time she found a _real_ person to be all of that for her?" asked the Judge gently.

"Who?" demanded Fred. "Who is she going to find? Her father? He's hardly ever there! Her friends? Pish!They're a lot of little bubble brains..."

"She needs another adult whom she can talk to," said Judge Fair thoughtfully. "Like a trusted teacher or a close relative..."

"Well that would be great if she had one," said Fred witheringly. "But she doesn't. She has me. And I don't think she's ready for me to leave yet."

"Which brings us to another aspect of this case," said the Judge speaking rather loudly. "We have become concerned of late, Fred, that perhaps you are becoming too emotionally involved in this case. It's understandable that it could happen, with you being with her for so long. Nevertheless, we are concerned that you are no longer the most... objective companion for Elisabeth Cronin."

Fred closed his eyes. Here he had no defense, nothing. He _knew_ he was too involved with Lizzy and he couldn't deny it... not even to himself.

"I'm - I'm fond of her, its true," he said in a desperate attempt at justification. "I can't help that. But have I done anything since I've been with Lizzy that makes me unfit to be her friend?"

"Aside from exhibiting reluctance to leave her, no," conceded the Judge.

"Haven't I always been there for her?" continued Fred, ignoring the last remark. "Haven't I helped her cope, helped her grow stronger? Haven't I kept her spirit alive?"

"This is all true," agreed Judge Fair.

"Well then, I ask you, if I'm doing my job, if Lizzy is happy and growing, what harm is there in me staying with her a little longer? What if she's just a special case who needs her friend longer than most kids? Think of the damage that might be done if I leave too soon? She's vulnerable, Judge. She's... fragile. I know how to protect her and take care of her."

"She needs to learn how to protect and take care of herself."

"At the age of twelve? Think about what you're saying, Judge. Would you really leave a little girl alone to cope with a Mega-Beast for a mother without _anyone_ to take care of her?"

Judge Fair sighed hard. "You make a strong case for yourself, Drop Dead Fred," he said, glaring impressively. "However, the counsel is not convinced that you remaining with Elisabeth Cronin is the best thing for her. We are going to have a short recess and when we come back, we'll have made a decision."

Fred had to comply. He went out into the garden and watched Lizzy in her portal again. She was eating breakfast all alone, Polly being gone shopping and Nigel at work. He wished he was sitting there with her now, flicking milk at her or listening to her complain about her mother's latest insult. He watched her until Sagaciy called him to come back in.

The distance from the garden to the counsel room was the longest walk he had ever taken. He knew his fate hung in the balance. In moments he would know whether he could stay with his Snotface a while longer or if they were going to snatch him away from her forever.

He stood, dry mouthed and sweaty palmed before the panel, waiting for them to collect their notes and tell him their verdict. He saw Sagacity shoot him a look of sympathy and he felt his heart sink. Judge Fair cleared his throat.

"Drop Dead Fred, this counsel has collaborated and come to the decision that we need more time to review your case before we make a final decision." Fred could have sworn he saw him cast an irritated glance toward Sagacity. "Your circumstances are obviously complicated and we need to discuss the facts at greater lengths. You will receive a summons when we are ready to tell you our decision."

Fred stood stunned. He hadn't expected this. He looked toward Sagacity, but she seemed absorbed in her notes. "So... I'm free to go? Can I... can I... go back to Lizzy?"

"For the time being," snapped Judge Fair.

Fred nearly collapsed. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath. He wanted to yell for joy. Instead he turned around and made his way out of the building and through the garden. As soon as he was outside the gate, he willed himself back to Earth. The verdict wasn't everything he could've hoped for, but at least it had bought him some precious time. He wouldn't have to desert Lizzy today.

. . .

He materialized beside her in the kitchen where she was washing up the breakfast dishes. He snatched her up in his arms and spun her around, wet soapy hands and all. She screamed in shock. "Fred! What on earth are you doing? You scared me to death!"

"Happy birthday, Snotface!"

"Well thank you... I guess. Is your present to me heart failure?"

He was so happy he was grinning all over. "It's just a beautiful day, isn't it?"

She looked at him bemusedly. "Sure it is. Fred, what's gotten into you?"

"I've just had a really good morning, that's all. C'mon Snotface, let's go pick all the neighbor's flowers and make a BIG bouquet. Then we'll make you a crown out of them and you can be the queen of the day. I'll be your court jester and the Mega-Beast can be your slave."

Lizzy laughed. "Sounds like fun, Fred, but I'm meeting Shelly and Lisa at the mall in a little while and we're going shopping. Daddy gave me some birthday money."

"Oh well, fine then, we'll do that!" Fred was in such a good mood, he would've gone to dig graves with her if that was what she wanted to do."

"Oh... are you coming?" asked Lizzy a little awkwardly.

"Of course I am!" said Fred cheerfully. "What Snotface wants to do on her birthday, Snotface gets to do."

Lizzy sighed, but she didn't have the heart to disappoint him when he was in such good spirits. "Okay Fred, you can come, but _please_ behave yourself? Hmm? I don't want to be embarrassed today, not at the mall. Maybe I'll go and do something nice and destructive with you later on."

"Sure, not a problem," said Fred happily.

"You promise?" She held out her pinky.

He took it and they shook. "I promise Snotface. For your special day, I'll be good."

"Thank you."

For the most part he kept his promise. He wandered around after Lizzy and her two friends, occasionally making wisecracks which would make Lizzy laugh at odd times, but overall, he was an angel (in his opinion). He waited patiently while Lizzy tried on clothes, admired jewelry and ate too much ice cream in the food court. Her friends giggled vapidly at every cute male that walked by, but Fred did not care. It was enough for him that he got to be near his Snotface.

After the mall they went to see a movie and then the girls went their separate ways. Nigel and Polly were home when Lizzy arrived. Nigel gently kissed his daughter when she thanked him again for the birthday money and told him what a wonderful time she'd had with her friends. Fred noticed that Nigel seemed even more distant than usual and there was a tension between him and Polly that could've been cut with a knife. He guessed that they had been fighting again.

Polly had made Lizzy her favorite dinner and a birthday cake. She managed to be fairly pleasant to Lizzy the rest of the evening so Fred opted to leave her alone. After dinner, Fred and Lizzy walked to the park together and in the twilight they sat on the swings and talked over the day. That is, Lizzy talked and Fred mostly listened. He was content to do so. It made him happy just being able to sit and listen to Snotface's voice. He knew he might not have much more time to hear it.

"Fred?" said Lizzy after she had exhausted the subject of the mall. "Why did you say you had a good morning this morning? What happened?"

Fred was caught off guard. "Oh... I just did... you know. The sun was shining, the birds were singing... I chased some pigeons. Just a good morning..."

Lizzy looked at him skeptically. "Is that all?"

Fred swallowed. "Yep!" he said brightly. "Why?"

Lizzy shook her head. "You seemed really... elated over something. I was just wondering what it was."

"Oh," said Fred. "Well, it was just a good morning. Did you have a good day, Snotface?"

Lizzy smiled. "Yeah... I really did. Thanks for being nice today, Fred. I really enjoyed having you along." She looked at him from under her eyelashes. "You know, I like Shelly and Lisa, but they're just not you Fred. You make everything more fun."

Fred flushed with pleasure. He said nothing but he took her hand and squeezed it. Lizzy leaned her head against the thick chain of the swing and looked up into the darkening sky. "I wish other people could see you, Fred."

He looked at her startled. "What?"

"I wish other people could see you the way I can. It would be so nice to be able to talk to you when I wanted... introduce you to my friends. I think other people would really like you, Fred. You're so much fun."

Fred cleared his throat. "Well that would kind of defeat the purpose of my being your _imaginary_ friend, wouldn't it, now? I don't think I would be much good to you if I wasn't imaginary."

"Why?"

"Well, for one thing I couldn't stay at your house because your mother would be able to see me and call the police on me whenever she wanted, right?"

"True," conceded Lizzy.

"And I couldn't play half the tricks on her that I do... and I couldn't come visit you whenever I wanted. And I'd _never_ be able to hang upside down in your science class room and make fun of Mr Baker's tie..."

Lizzy giggled. "I guess you're right Fred. I just sometimes think that it would be fun... well... to have you for a _real_ friend."

"I'm real to you, aren't I?" asked Fred rather gruffly.

Lizzy smiled at him. "Yes, you are."

"Well there you go then."

Lizzy said no more. Fred looked up at the sky. "It's getting late. We'd better get you home."

As they left the park, Lizzy slipped her hand into Fred's. "Fred... thanks for always being there for me. You're the best friend in the world -- even if you are imaginary."

Fred felt a lump in his throat. He put his arm protectively around Lizzy and hugged her to his side. "No problem, Snotface," was all he could manage. They walked home hand-in-hand through the soft purple evening.

. . .

A week went by. Fred heard no word from The-Powers-That-Be. He spent every waking moment he possibly could with Lizzy. His boisterous good mood evaporated after his initial elation and he became anxious and moody. Lizzy noticed and wanted to know what was the matter with him. He wished desperately that he could talk to her about it, but he didn't want to upset her. Polly and Nigel were so at odds with each other they could scarcely be in the same room together without fighting. It was taking its toll on Lizzy. She spent most of her time either shut up in her room or at the park. Fred stayed close by her and did everything he could to comfort and distract her. In a way it helped him get his mind off his own anxieties.

Then one day while Lizzy was at her music lesson, Fred had a visit from Sagacity. He hadn't been back to Limbo since the review and he was extremely startled when she suddenly appeared beside him while he was sitting on the wrought iron bench in the backyard, moodily watching the pigeons peck for bugs.

"Hello, Fred."

He jumped a mile. "Sagacity! What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you."

"Well I can see that, Miss Obvious. _Why_ have you come to see me?"

"I wanted to talk to you -- about Lizzy."

"Alright then."

Sagacity sighed. "Fred, the counsel has been discussing your case for over a week now. I say 'discussing' but I think 'fighting' would be a better word for it. I've never seen so many strong opinions over a case."

"Well, what are they saying?"

"A lot of things. Some people think you've been with Lizzy long enough and you should leave her immediately. Some people aren't sure and say you should have a little more time with her to see how things pan out." She paused as though thinking. "And then there's me. _I_ don't think Lizzy's ready for you to go at all and you should definitely stay with her -- but I'm the minority."

"How much of the minority?"

"Well, the only minority, Fred. Nobody else is as convinced as I am that Lizzy still needs you. They're hung up on the age thing. I personally don't think it's an issue -- not with Lizzy anyway -- but the others are terribly worried about it. Not without good reason too."

Fred sighed. "Why are you telling me all this, Sagacity?"

"Because I think you have a right to know what's going on. You've been with Lizzy a long time and it only makes sense that you should be concerned about her well-being. The rest of the counsel might call it being too emotionally involved, _I_ call it being a responsible imaginary friend. You seem to know intuitively that Lizzy isn't well-adjusted enough to be on her own yet_._ _I_ think the counsel should pay attention to that."

"I thought that you thought that I needed to be as objective as possible."

"You do need to be. But I haven't seen you behave in any way that makes me think you're not being objective. Watching you two over the years has made me realize that it is possible to care about someone and be objective at the same time." She smiled at him suddenly. "It takes a very special kind of imaginary friend to be that way. Lizzy is lucky to have you, Fred."

Fred said nothing. He thought that if Sagacity had any inkling of just how much he really loved Lizzy, she might not be so convinced that he was being objective.

"So, what's going to happen?" he asked moodily. "When do we find out the verdict?"

"Soon," said Sagacity. "Judge Fair wants to try to reach a decision in the next couple of days. I just wanted to give you a chance to prepare yourself Fred. Honestly... it doesn't look good. You may need to prepare yourself for the worst."

Fred closed his eyes, swallowing hard. Sagacity patted him on the shoulder. "But we don't know for sure, Fred. There's still a chance..."

"Thanks, Sagacity."

She looked at him sympathetically. "You're welcome. Now try not to worry about it too much. Try to enjoy these next few days with Lizzy as much as you can. She needs you right now."

"I know."

"I have to go Fred. I'll see you at the hearing." She vanished.

Fred fought his mounting depression as hard as he could. He was grateful to Sagacity for her honesty, but he almost wished she hadn't visited. He would rather have spent his final days with Lizzy in blissful ignorance.

. . .

Three days later, he felt it: the call. It was something that all imaginary friends experienced from time-to-time. It was like a signal in the brain to come home, to return to Limbo. It was powerful and unmistakable and irresistible. Lizzy had left that morning to go with Polly to a summer fundraiser for Polly's garden club. They would be gone all day and Fred, much as he wanted to be with Lizzy, had opted not to go. He was so low spirited that he knew he would get no fun out of tormenting the snobby ladies as he might have otherwise. He hugged Lizzy very tightly before she left, something he rarely did. "Bye Snotface," he whispered. "Have fun."

"What's wrong, Fred?" whispered Lizzy. "You seem so down."

"It's nothing. Go on with you, have fun."

"Are you sure?"

He made an attempt to be his old self. "Positive! Now quit being an old, fussy woman and go on. Don't let the Mega-Beast eat you today. Remember the magic words!"

So Lizzy left him, obviously not happy, but powerless to make him talk to her. It was soon after that that he felt the call. He didn't want to go. He wanted to fight it, but he could not. He closed his eyes and let the force of Limbo pull him there.

He landed right outside the garden gate. He slowly went inside. If he had been marching to a death sentence at the guillotine, he couldn't have felt worse. Inside, the counsel was all seated at their table. Fred came and stood before them. Judge Fair looked up. "Well Fred, the panel has made it's decision concerning your charge. Are you ready to hear it?"

Fred said nothing. He felt light-headed, almost sick. He couldn't look at Sagacity because he knew he would see his fate in her eyes.

Judge Fair cleared his throat. "Drop Dead Fred, after much deliberation and --ahem-- disagreement, this panel finally decided yesterday that it would be in Miss Elisabeth Cronin's best interest that you leave her and take on a new assignment --"

"NO!" Fred cried out wildly.

"We came to this decision based on your charge's age and growing maturity," continued the Judge loudly. "Miss Cronin must move on to the next stage in her life, and while we see that there could be benefits from your staying with her, we foresee that there could be much harm done too. So based on this, we have decided that you must now leave her and allow her to mature without your influence."

"No, no, no!!" Fred cried. "You don't understand! She's not ready! She still needs me, I _know_ she does! She told me just the other day that I was her best friend and that she wished I was real! How can I desert her now?"

"We're sorry, Fred," spoke up one of the other counsel members, an older woman he knew to be called 'Prudence'. "We knew this would be hard on you, but you must think about Lizzy's well-being. If she continues to have an imaginary friend, she will be unlikely to develop close friendships with real people. She needs that."

"She does have real friends!" protested Fred. "I mean, she's not the most popular girl at school, but she has friends. She does things with them."

"She needs to branch out more," said Judge Fair. "We are afraid that if you stay, she will never do that."

"I'm more afraid that she _won't_ branch out because I'm going to leave her, betray her, hurt her terribly!" cried Fred. "Can't you see that?"

"I admit that this is an... unusually painful parting between an imaginary friend and a charge," said Judge Fair slowly. "And for that I am genuinely sorry. It is unusual for there to be so much distress involved. I wish there was something I could do to change that."

"Please, please don't do this," pleaded Fred. "You're going to break her heart. She's so vulnerable right now. Please let me stay."

"I'm sorry, Fred. The counsel has made its final decision and it must stand firm. We will allow you to return to Lizzy once more to tell her farewell, but then you must leave her for good."

Fred's eyes were burning with tears again. He didn't know how much longer he could control himself. He wanted to throw himself on the ground and cry like a baby.

"Fred... I hate to bring this up, but we realize that there is probably going to be a need for... the ritual."

Fred looked at him and felt his face turn grey. "No," he whispered. "No, not that! You're not going to make her -- her --" He trailed off, unable to finish. He felt a scorching tear slip from his eye and roll down his cheek.

"I'm sorry Fred, but I'm afraid it's the only way this time. Otherwise, you probably won't be able to leave."

The ritual. Fred had heard of it, but he had never had to go through with it before. The ritual was hardly ever observed anymore. Only in cases where there had to be an intentional parting between an imaginary friend and a charge was it used. Most of the time the friends just quietly and painlessly faded out of the picture. And now they were going to force it on Fred. They were going to make his Snotface kiss him and say his name, thus banishing him from her life forever. He couldn't imagine anything more cruel.

"Fred, you'd best go now and get it over with," Prudence was saying. He heard pity in her voice. He looked up and for the first time, his eyes met Sagacity's. He was surprised to see that she was wiping away tears. Somehow it made everything seem final. It was over. Nothing more could be done. He was going to have to leave his best friend, the only person he had ever truly loved. Without another word he turned and left the counsel room.

He didn't return to Earth immediately. He couldn't. He dragged himself into the garden, away into a quiet corner and there he wept as though his heart would break. He thought it _was_ broken. It was the worst feeling in the whole world, a feeling that he, happy-go-lucky Drop Dead Fred had never experienced and never thought he would experience. It was wrong somehow. He wasn't supposed to feel anguish like this. He was an imaginary friend, not a real human.

After a while he felt he had cried himself dry. He knew he was going to have to get it over with sooner or later. He thought there was no point in torturing himself any longer. He washed his face in one of the garden fountains, dried it, and forced himself back to Earth, back to Lizzy one more time.

His bearings must have been a little off, because he accidentally materialized in Polly and Nigel's bedroom instead of Lizzy's. He was standing there, collecting himself when he noticed something strange. Nigel's closet doors stood open. There seemed to be a lot of clothes gone. Hangers were strewn over the bed and chairs. The dresser top seemed oddly bare, as if a lot of things were missing. Fred took all this in in an instant, but it didn't really register with him. His mind was eaten up with the dreadful thing he was about to be forced to do.

He crossed the hall to Lizzy's bedroom and was about to open the door when he heard a strange noise. It took him a moment to identify it. Then he realized: it was someone crying. No, not crying, more like wailing. Terrible, heartbroken wailing. He realized it was Lizzy. In a flash he opened the bedroom door and was inside.

It took him a moment to spot Lizzy. She was crouched on the floor beside her bed, holding onto her chest and crying her eyes out. She looked up when Fred came in and then hid her face in her hands and burst into fresh tears. Fred stood for a moment, utterly stunned. Did she _know_ somehow? How could she possibly know?

In an instant, he was beside her, his arm around her, supporting her. "Lizzy, what's wrong? Oh honey what's wrong?"

She didn't answer. She just kept holding onto her chest and crying as though she would die. Fred felt frightened. He had never, in all the years he'd known her, seen her cry like _this_. "Lizzy, honey, tell me what's the matter... _Please_?"

Finally, she lifted her swollen, tear-stained face and looked at him. "Daddy left," she sobbed. "He's gone."

"Gone...? Gone where?"

"We don't know. He was here this morning when we left. But when we got home all his clothes were gone and he'd left a note for Mother. I don't know what it said, but she told me that he's gone... and he's not coming back..." She sank down, sobbing terribly.

Fred crushed her in his arms then. He gathered her to him and held her against his chest, rocking her to and fro. "Oh Lizzy," he whispered, tears smarting in his own eyes. "Oh Sweetheart... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

They sat in the floor for a long time. Fred held her close in his arms, kissing her hair and comforting her as best he could. At last, after what seemed like hours, she grew quiet, worn out from weeping. She lay against him, utterly spent with grief. He held her, unwilling to let her go. After a while she lifted her head and looked at him. "I'm so tired, Fred," she whispered. "And I'm thirsty."

He nodded. He helped her stand up and took her into the bathroom and got her a cup of water. While she was drinking it, he got her nightgown out of it's drawer and brought it to her. He turned the bed sheets down while she was putting it on. Then he went back and gently brushed out her tangled hair while she brushed her teeth and washed her face. Then he led her back to her bed, helped her lie down and tucked the covers in around her. "Stay with me, Fred," Lizzy whispered. "Please don't leave me." He knelt beside her bed and smoothed her hair back from her face.

"I won't," he said quietly. "I won't. I'll stay here all night if you want me to."

"Please, Fred."

He kissed her in reply. He took her hand and laid his head down on the pillow beside hers. She sighed and closed her eyes. In a few minutes she had sunk into an exhausted sleep. Fred stayed beside her, holding her hand and stroking her hair. After a while, he too fell asleep, utterly drained from the events of that day. Polly looked in after a while and saw that Lizzy was asleep. She came over to the bed and looked down at her for a while, a strange expression on her face. Then she turned and swiftly left the room.

. . .

Hours and hours later, Fred woke up stiff and sore. He was still on his knees beside Lizzy's bed, his head on the pillow beside hers. She was still holding onto his hand in her sleep. Fred looked groggily at the clock. It was 5:30 in the morning. They had slept about eleven hours. Fred gently took his hand out of Lizzy's and painfully climbed to his feet. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. He sat on the bed beside Lizzy and watched her in the gray light. She lay motionless in her bed like a broken flower. Her poor little face was still swollen with crying. Fred felt something like fury growing in his heart. This child, this little girl whom he loved more than anything, was being slowly crushed to death by selfish grown-ups around her. Her father had deserted her, her mother didn't love her (or didn't know how to show her love). She had no other family. And now, some lofty beings whom she didn't even know existed were going to take away the one person she had to rely on, her only friend.

Fred got up and went over to the window. A muscle was working in his jaw. He stood looking out at the growing light for a few minutes. Then he turned swiftly. He rummaged around in Lizzy's desk drawer until he found paper and a pen. He quickly scribbled something on it and placed it on the pillow beside Lizzy's head. It said simply "Be back soon. Don't be afraid. Fred." Then he shut his eyes and willed himself to Limbo once more. He would be damned if he stood by and let the Powers-That-Be wreck his darling's life.

He landed in Limbo with a crash. He was on his feet and running before he even had time to think. He tore through the twisting streets. It was early morning here, just as it was on Earth and there were a few people out. He nearly knocked several of them over in his haste. They turned to stare after him, some calling out indignantly. He ignored them and continued at his breakneck pace. He didn't stop running until he reached the garden and bolted through it's gates. He ran right up to the large, painted wooden doors and burst through them without knocking. He tore into the counsel room and skidded to a halt before the long table.

There was nobody there.

Fred bent double, holding his knees and gasping for breath. He looked up and down the room, but it was deserted. He knew that the counsel members lived in apartments over the big hearing room. He stood up straight and yelled at the top of his lungs. "FAIR!!!!"

His voice echoed off the walls and reverberated around the room. There was no answer. "FAIR!!" Fred screamed again. He walked up to the table and began to beat on it with his hand. "Fair! Judge Fair! Sagacity, Prudence!" He shouted until his voice was hoarse. After a few minutes he saw a door to one side of the room slowly creak open. Sagacity came through it holding a candle and looking shocked. She was in a long white nightgown.

"Fred?" She whispered incredulously. "Fred, what are you doing here?"

"I want to see Judge Fair!" Fred bellowed. "Actually I want to see all of you and I'm not leaving until I do!"

"Fred... they're all in their beds asleep. Can't it wait?"

"No! It cannot and it will not! If I have to scream this place down, I will until you've all seen me. I've got a matter to take care of and I won't budge until it's taken care of!"

At that moment, Judge Fair appeared behind Sagacity also holding a candle. He looked furious. He was in a long nightshirt with an old-fashioned night cap on his head. Long, yellow stockings came up to his knobby knees. If the situation hadn't been so serious, Fred would've burst out laughing.

"Drop Dead Fred, what is the meaning of this? Do you know what time it is?"

"I sure do, Judge. It's time for me to get a few things straight with you and the rest of this counsel. I'm not leaving until I've spoken to you all."

"This is highly irregular!"

"Yeah, well, get used to it, because it's about to get even more irregular! Ah, there's Prudence! Where's the rest of your cronies? Here's another one, good, good!"

One by one the rest of the panel were trickling in, alarmed by the noise. They were all clad in various states of night gear and they all looked extremely miffed when they saw that it was Fred who was making the racket. Judge Fair stood watching the scene, his arms crossed, a vein standing out in his forehead.

When the whole panel had arrived, Judge Fair stepped forward and looked at Fred. "Well, Drop Dead Fred, we're all here, what do you want?"

"I want you to reverse the verdict you decided for me and Elisabeth Cronin," said Fred firmly.

"Fred, that's impossible. We already told you. We know you weren't happy about it, but this is getting ridiculous."

"Do you know what has happened in the last twenty-four hours?" Fred shouted. "Do you?"

The panel members looked at each other in bewilderment. "You don't do you?" Fred was white with rage. "You say you keep such a close tab on the friends and their charges and yet you don't know what has happened in my Lizzy's life. You didn't even bother to check on her yesterday."

"Fred, we have other cases to hear. We can't watch everything all the time."

"Well, I'm going to tell you what happened. In the time that I came to see you and then went back to tell my Lizzy goodbye, her father deserted her family. Yes, that's right deserted her! When I got back all his clothes were gone and he'd left the Mega-Beast a note saying that he was leaving and not coming back. I came back with the instructions to tell Lizzy that I had to leave her forever, only to find that her father already beat me to it."

The counsel stood silent, shocked.

Fred crossed his arms. "Well, what do you suppose I did? Do you think I took one look at her, lying in her bedroom floor, crying her eyes out and said, 'Well Snotface, it's been fun but I've got to leave you forever now. Sorry your dad and I had to do it in the same day, but you know, life's tough. Now kiss me goodbye and I'll piss off!'"

The counsel members were quiet still. Some of them looked as though they would be sick. Fred was shaking from head to toe. "Because if that's what you think I did, you're all out of your minds. I stayed with her, I held her, I comforted her. I knelt by her bed and held her hand all night. And do you know what? _I was the only one who did._ Her beast of a mother let her lie up there and cry by herself for hours; never even popped her head in to ask if Lizzy was okay."

Fred took a deep breath and his voice lowered menacingly. "Now," he said. "Judge Fair, I want you to think long and hard about that verdict you issued this afternoon. If you force me to leave Lizzy (and I tell you right now, you will have to _force_ me to leave her; as in drag me away in chains if necessary) you are going to have a lot of pain and suffering on your conscience. You just might effectively ruin a little girl's life. So I want you to think long and hard about this decision. And then I want you to make the right one; that is to let me stay with Elisabeth Cronin until she is ready for me to leave; not when you _think_ she's ready. And if that means I have to stay with her until she's eighteen years old, then that's what it means."

Judge Fair was silent. His face was totally inscrutable behind its spectacles, beard and nightcap. The other counsel members stood around looking at each other awkwardly. After a moment the Judge sighed and went over to the table. He sat down in the nearest chair and looked hard at Fred. "This _is_ highly irregular," he said again. "You do know that I could hold you in contempt of court, Fred? I could have you written up or incarcerated or some other manner of punishment."

Fred stared back at him stonily.

"However, contrary to what you seem to think about me, I am not a cruel person, Fred. No one here is. We were unaware that your case was going to take the direction that it has. Obviously, in light of the new circumstances, we need to reconsider our verdict. Will you be patient enough to grant us a few minutes to deliberate?"

"I'll grant you a few minutes, but I don't understand what there is to deliberate about. I told you, I'm not leaving Lizzy unless you chain me in a dungeon and leave me there to rot."

"Please spare us the theatrics, Fred," said the Judge wearily. "We have to follow some sort of protocol here. If you'll excuse me, I need to consult with the rest of the panel. Please wait over there."

Fred went to the corner where the Judge pointed and waited rigidly. The counsel gathered around the table, shuffling through papers and whispering amongst themselves. Fred saw Sagacity shoot him an anxious look several times. After a while, the Judge cleared his throat and stood up behind the table. "Drop Dead Fred, come and stand before us, please."

Fred obeyed.

The Judge studied him for a moment as though trying to make up his mind about him. "Well Fred, it seems that we are not as hard-hearted as you think we are. In light of the changes in Elisabeth Cronin's life, this counsel has deemed it necessary that you stay with her and help her through her parent's separation. I think you should know, this is not a normal procedure at all. Countless other children and adolescents cope with divorce and separation every day; and they do it without the aid of an imaginary friend. However, your Elisabeth's circumstances are... unusually lonely. She is a sensitive young girl and she seems to have an unusual bond with you. In my opinion, you are too attached to her for your own good, but perhaps that is exactly what she needs right now: someone who is willing to care for her unconditionally. You seem unusually attune with her emotional needs and she needs that too. We will allow you to return to her for the present time."

Fred leaned against the wall, breathing hard. He almost felt dizzy with relief. Judge Fair went on, "Perhaps we might consider this... an experiment. We will see what the outcome is of an older girl like Lizzy keeping her imaginary friend. Hopefully it will all turn out for the best; but Fred, I will warn you, if we see any sign of instability in her, we will remove you immediately. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Very well," Judge Fair slammed his mallet down on the table, not because it was necessary but simply because he seemed to need to vent his feelings on something. "This case is DISMISSED... I hope for a long time. I don't want to see your face in here unless you are called for, Drop Dead Fred. Is this understood?"

"Perfectly," Fred sighed. "I'm more than happy to oblige, sir."

"Good. Go away then and let us get what little sleep we have left to us. We will be keeping an eye on you, Fred. So you take exceptional care of that little girl of yours."

"Yes SIR!"

"Go!"

And Fred was gone. Back to Earth, back to Lizzy's room he sped, his heart singing, aflame with joy. He knew he wasn't returning to the happiest of circumstances... but at least he was returning. That was all that mattered. He would be with Lizzy.

She was still asleep when he landed in her room. He was thankful for that. He hadn't wanted her to wake and find him gone. He snatched up the note on her pillow, crumpled it and threw it in the trash. Then he sat down beside her bed and waited for her to awaken.

She did, slowly and painfully, as though she were struggling up from a great depth. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw him crouched beside her, his chin resting on his arms. He smiled at her gently. "Hi Snotface."

She sat up rubbing her eyes. "Fred? Have you been there all night?"

He sat on the bed beside her. "I told you I would be, didn't I?"

She sighed and rested her forehead against his arm. "Thanks Fred."

"You okay?"

"I-I don't know." They were silent for a moment and then she looked up at him and he saw the heartbreak in her eyes again. "He's gone," she whispered.

"I know." He stroked her hair, thankful that she didn't know how close she had come to losing him as well. He hated to see Lizzy in so much pain. He decided that she needed something to distract her, even if it was just for a few hours.

"Snotface, let's get out of here for a while. You need to get away from the house. I don't want you to sit around here being miserable all day. I'm taking you to breakfast."

Lizzy looked at him. "I don't really feel like breakfast, Fred."

"I know. But it'll be good for you. C'mon, up you get. The Mega-Beast doesn't need to know."

So Lizzy got dressed while Fred rummaged through Polly's purse for some money. He didn't consider it stealing since it was for Lizzy. He figured it was the least he could do for her. He made sure Polly wasn't around and then snuck Lizzy out of the house.

They went to a little diner in their neighborhood. Lizzy ordered breakfast for one, plus a cup of cocoa for Fred. It was early still and there were hardly any people in the place. Lizzy sat quietly in the crook of Fred's arm and drank her orange juice and stared out the window.

"Where do you suppose he is?" she said softly.

Fred hugged her close. "Don't know."

She was silent for a few minutes. "Fred, d'you... d'you think he left because of me?"

Fred looked at her in horror. "Elisabeth Cronin! How could you even think such a thing? You know your dad loved you! You _know_ that!"

She leaned against his chest and squeezed her eyes shut. A tear slipped down her cheek. "I've done so many naughty things."

Fred held her tightly. "You just did what any kid in your situation would do to cope. I'm pretty sure your dad knew that. _He_ never minded us having a bit of fun. It's always your mum fussing about it. Snotface, I hate to disappoint you, but I'm pretty sure _she's_ the reason why Nigel left. Can you blame him, really? It must be horrible having to put up with a wife like that every day. I guess he finally got enough."

"I wish he'd taken me with him," murmured Lizzy.

"Me too, Snotface. Me too."

The waitress brought over Lizzy's breakfast then. She looked rather concernedly at the little girl who was sitting all by herself and appeared to be talking to thin air.

"Here you go, Honey. Sunny-side up eggs with bacon and toast. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No thank you, ma'am," said Lizzy politely.

The waitress hesitated. "Is - is everything all right, honey? Who are you talking to? Where are your parents?"

Lizzy looked up at the waitresses kindly face and for once in her life, was too tired and sad to do anything but tell the truth. "I live just a few blocks over. My dad left us yesterday and I'm talking to my imaginary friend about it. He's taking care of me."

The waitress looked rather stunned for a moment, then to Fred's great surprise, she smiled compassionately. "Oh I see," she said gently. "Well, I'm sorry to hear about your dad. Listen, you enjoy your breakfast and let me know if there's anything else I can get you. Okay?"

"Okay. Could you get Fred some more cocoa?"

The waitress looked down at the empty mug which was sitting a little to Lizzy's left. "Who's Fred?"

"He's my imaginary friend."

"Oh I see and he's the one drinking the cocoa?"

"Yes ma'am."

The waitress disappeared with a twitching mouth. Fred looked at Lizzy in amazement. "I can't believe you just did that!"

Lizzy sighed and took a bite of egg. "Sometimes it's easier just to tell the truth, Fred."

. . .

Polly was served with divorce papers from Nigel a week later. She dealt with it as she had the entire ordeal: coldly, bitterly, and with utter selfishness. Never once did she ask Lizzy how she was coping. Never once did she attempt to comfort her. Fred was left alone to pick up the pieces of Lizzy's broken heart. He did so to the best of his abilities, loving Lizzy and hating the Mega-Beast more and more all the time.

That was the single worst summer of Lizzy's life. She spent half of it crying in Fred's arms and the other half writing long letters to her father which she never mailed. It was a hard summer for Fred too. He was grappling with so many new and difficult things. He had never had the responsibility of helping an adolescent girl deal with her parents divorce. Sometimes he felt like he made things up as he went along. He never went back to Limbo anymore. He stayed with Lizzy all day and slept curled up in her armchair at night and woke up with a stiff neck every morning. There were times when he looked in the mirror and was shocked to see the tired, drawn face there. He didn't look like himself... not like the happy, carefree Drop Dead Fred of old. He looked like... a grown-up. It always sent a shudder of horror down his spine and he would turn away determined to go do something totally irresponsible and destructive. Then he would see Lizzy welling up over something that reminded her of her father and the prank would be forgotten as he went to comfort her.

A few weeks after the divorce was finalized, Fred found something that made him hate Polly Cronin even more than ever. Lizzy had to go to a back-to-school orientation with her mother and Fred was left by himself for the day. The first thing he did was crash on Lizzy's bed and sleep for a few hours. He never thought he would see the day when he, Drop Dead Fred, master of mayhem, would prefer sleep to causing mischief, but he was drained, emotionally and physically.

When he woke up he was hungry and went to the kitchen to raid the fridge. Polly always marveled at how much dainty little Elisabeth seemed to be able to eat, not knowing that most of it's consumption was the work of a hungry imaginary friend with a not-so-imaginary appetite. When Fred had finished with the fridge, he wanted desert and went through Polly's desk to see if he could find any candy stashed there. He knew the Mega-Beast occasionally hid chocolates in odd places. While he was rummaging around amidst the papers and bills, he found a letter addressed to Lizzy. It was in Nigel's handwriting. Fred eyed it suspiciously. He was quite sure Lizzy had never seen this letter. If she had, she had not mentioned it to him. It was very inconsistent with Lizzy's current behavior to keep _anything_ from Fred, much less something as monumental as a letter from her father. He turned it over. It was opened. A tendril of suspicion curled itself around Fred's heart. He decided to put it in her room in case she hadn't seen it.

She hadn't. She saw it sitting on her pillow when she got home and turned pale with excitement. Fred was sitting in the easy chair, watching closely. She snatched it up turning it over in her hands. "Fred! This is from Dad! Did you open it?"

"No, Snotface."

"Well, it's addressed to me, but it's been opened."

Fred said quietly, "Lizzy, I found that in your mother's desk. She's been hiding it from you."

Lizzy looked at him disbelieving for a moment. "Why would she do that?"

"I don't know."

Lizzy took the letter out of the envelope and began to read. After a few sentences, she sank onto the bed and finished it with a shaking hand. When she was through, she looked up with tears running quietly down her face. Fred came and sat beside her. She handed it to him. "Read it."

He obeyed. It wasn't long, but it said the things that needed to be said. Nigel told Lizzy over and over how much he loved her. He assured her that he hadn't left because of her. He told her that he thought she was the most beautiful, talented, perfect little daughter he could ever hope to have and that he would miss her terribly. He put an address at the end and asked her to write him back. He ended it with a P.S. "By the way, if Drop Dead Fred is still around, tell him to take good care of you for me and that he has my permission to dump as much mud on the table as he wants."

Fred stared at it in awe. He looked up at Lizzy who was half-laughing through her tears. "He loves me, Fred. He's not mad at me. It's all I wanted to hear him say."

Fred drew her close and tucked her head under his chin. "Of course he's not mad at you, Snotface. Who could ever be mad at you? You just won't listen to me..."

Lizzy laughed shakily again. "I can't believe you got a mention in there. I'll be sure to tell him you're still around..."

"And taking care of you like he asked," said Fred.

"Yes."

Lizzy was quiet for a moment, reading over her precious letter again. "Fred," she whispered. "Do you realize that if you hadn't found this I would probably have never seen it? I would've gone my whole life wondering if Daddy left because of me... if he ever loved me at all. Now I won't have to... because you found this."

"No thanks to the Mega-Beast," growled Fred.

Lizzy closed her eyes and two big tears fell from them. "I don't know why Mother would do this... why would she hide this from me? Fred, I think she hates me sometimes. I don't know why, but I really think she does. I don't trust her Fred, not one little bit."

"You shouldn't."

"I don't."

"Good."

"Fred?"

"Yes, Snotface?"

"Thank you."

He squeezed her hard. "Anything for you, Lizzy. Anything."


	5. A Shift In The Balance

**Title: **A Parallel Universe - A Shift In The Balance

**Author:** Strella Smith

**Pairings: **Eventual Fred/Lizzy

**Rating: **PG (very mild language)

Lizzy stood nervously in front of the mirror, arranging her hair. It was her first day of high school. Fred sat curled up in his armchair watching her. She turned around to face him.

"Do I look alright, Fred?"

Fred smiled fondly. Lizzy was still small and childlike for her age. She had turned fifteen a month ago but she looked closer to twelve. The oversized pink sweater and ribbon she wore in her long hair made her look even younger. "You look like a gross girl, Snotface," he teased. "Especially in all that pink!"

Lizzy sighed. "Fred... please be serious."

"I _am_ being serious! You look like a girl. No one today is going to suspect you of being a boy!"

"Oh, you're no help!"

Fred chuckled. "Want me to come with you?"

Lizzy looked at him. "Actually... would you mind? I'm - I'm really nervous."

Fred grinned. "Sure thing, Snotface! We'll make an impression on them that they won't soon forget!"

"NO Fred! I don't want to make an impression! I want to fade into the walls. I don't want to be noticed!"

Fred looked peeved. "Why not?"

"I - I just want to get through the day, Fred. I just want to get through the day, without any incidents and get back home without any trouble."

"But that's no fun!"

"We can have fun later. I want today to be nice and boring and uneventful." She came close to him and looked up at him pleadingly. "Please Fred? I want you to come with me, but... I want you to be sweet and -- and supportive like I know you can be. Please? I need that Fred today. Not crazy Fred who gets me into trouble."

Fred sighed. He could never resist her when she looked up at him like that with her big, melting, chocolate brown eyes. "Okay, Snotface. You win. I'll be nice today. But I'll get your mother extra good sometime to make up for it. She's overdue anyway."

"Fine with me," said Lizzy indifferently. The clock in the hall struck 7:30. "Come on!" she said. "We're gonna be late!"

Fred walked the three blocks with Lizzy to her high school. There were other students from the surrounding neighborhoods walking there as well. Lizzy knew a few of them by sight but she stayed close to Fred and did not talk to any of them. Fred slipped an arm around her shoulder.

"Now look here, Snotface. I want you to be a brave girl today. You need to try to make some friends. Your high school experience will be a lot more pleasant if you have friends."

"I'm friends with Shelly and Lisa."

Fred sighed. "Yes, I know, but I think you might need to make some _additional_ ones. This school is a lot bigger than your old one. Less snotty too. You might actually like the kids."

"We'll see."

They were nearing the school. It was a big, old fashioned brick building with several flights of concrete steps leading up to it. Lizzy had had to leave her expensive private school for the local public one because Polly found her money running short. Nigel diligently paid his child support, but even between that and Polly's job as a receptionist at the local garden club, funds were much tighter than they used to be. Polly continually moaned about being "poor", but Lizzy did not care. The fine things that had always made her mother happy did not appeal to her.

The school loomed overhead. Lizzy shrank back at the sight of the huge building. There seemed to be literally thousands of students pouring in. Fred took her hand comfortingly. "Come on Snotface, it'll be okay. I'm here with you." He led her up the steps and into the school.

Inside was a mad house of shuffling students, locker doors slamming, voices and laughter echoing off the walls and teachers calling to each other over the din of noise. Lizzy clung to Fred's hand so tight she hurt him. "Come on," he said gently. "Let's find your locker." So they found Lizzy's locker and Fred helped her put her things in it. Several tall, teenage boys were gathered nearby, discussing sports. They glanced over at Lizzy and one boy's mouth quirked. "Is it just me, or do the freshies get littler and littler every year?" Fred heard him say.

"It's not just you," agreed another boy.

"That one there now, she looks about what, ten?"

"There abouts," said another, complacently. "Flat-chested enough to be."

"Damn. We're going to school with freakin' babies."

Another boy, a tall, handsome fellow ran an appraising eye over Lizzy. "Yeah... but give her a year or two... she could be a real cutie."

"Humph! True that! She'll have to grow something up front though."

Fortunately Lizzy was so absorbed in arranging her locker, she did not hear this conversation. Fred however, heard every word of it. He strolled over to where the boys stood. In a few seconds, with lighting speed, he had unzipped the backpack of one of them causing all its contents to spill out, he yanked down the pants of another, and yet another he kicked in the back of the knee causing the boy to drop the armload of books he was holding. There was a few seconds of shocked silence and then the entire hallway erupted with laughter. Cursing, the boys scrambled to pick up their things and pull themselves back together.

"Brought to you courtesy of Drop Dead Fred," said Fred cooly over his shoulder. "That was for insulting my best friend. You'll find that bad things happen to you when you do that."

Lizzy was looking on the scene in shock. "Fred, did you do that?" she whispered.

"Oh absolutely." He slid a protective arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, they had it coming."

"Fred... you promised!"

"Oh lighten up, Snotface! They won't suspect you. See?"

The boys had reassembled themselves and were now fiercely accusing each other of pulling the prank.

Lizzy sighed. "Well just please try to restrain yourself. Come on, I need to find out where my classes are."

Fred stayed with Lizzy until second period when she seemed a little more relaxed and he thought he could risk leaving her for a bit. "Snotface, do you mind if I catch a breath of fresh air? The smell of greasy teenage boys is getting a bit rank."

Lizzy sighed. She had survived science and algebra (her two worst classes) and was now about to face history. "Oh I suppose so. Please don't get into too much mischief. And come back for me when school's over."

"You sure you'll be alright?"

She smiled at him shakily. "Yeah... I'll make it."

Fred squeezed her hand and disappeared in his green sparkles. It was a relief to get out of there. He re-materialized in the park where he and Lizzy still liked to come. He stretched out in the soft green grass with a sigh of contentment. Looking up, he realized he was under the tree where he and Lizzy had first sat when she was four years old and he had just met her. They had thrown acorns on people's heads for fun. The old memory brought a smile to Fred's lips and he thought back over his many years as Lizzy's imaginary friend. The last three since Nigel and Polly's divorce had been the most difficult.

In Nigel's absence, Polly had (if possible) become colder and more controlling than ever. She seemed to blame her husband's desertion on Lizzy and she took it out on her in subtle but devastating ways. She constantly criticized the way Lizzy dressed, the way she wore her hair, her use of slang, her eating habits, her taste in television and music; anything she could find to pick at, she did.

Fred fought back fiercely and he encouraged Lizzy to do the same. The interesting thing was, that as the years went by, Fred and Lizzy's fighting styles began to differ. Fred remained fond of school-boy pranks and name-calling, while Lizzy began to favor more subtle combat methods. She preferred calm defiance to shouting matches and she was learning the art of the sarcastic reply to Polly's fault-finding. It did not exactly improve their mother-daughter relationship, but at least Lizzy was learning to stand up for herself.

Fred was proud of his charge. Lizzy was becoming her own person in the midst of very difficult circumstances. She was not a naturally rebellious person, but she was being forced to take that route in order to survive. Fred remained her only champion, her encourager and comforter. She still showed no signs of out-growing him. He was profoundly thankful for this, but he wondered how long the Powers-That-Be would let them continue their relationship. Judge Fair had called his extended stay with Lizzy "an experiment". Fred had not been summoned back to Limbo since his last visit when he had demanded that the counsel reverse their decision to separate him and Lizzy. He did not know what to think of this long silence, but he wasn't complaining. The less interference in his life with his beloved friend the better, he thought.

He was back at the high school for her when the bell rang at 3:00.

"Well, how was it?" he grinned, as she came out to meet him, swept along by the tide of departing students.

She shrugged. "It wasn't so bad, I guess."

He took her arm. "Come on, Snotface. Let's go home."

Lizzy's words were a fair description of the rest of the fall semester. It wasn't so bad. Lizzy did not make a large circle of friends as Fred had hoped she might, but she joined a literature club and became quite good friends with some of the other members. She was not wildly popular but she wasn't a complete wallflower either. Her teachers liked her and the school bullies left her alone, so she was content. She continued to keep Fred's presence in her life a dark secret. Fred wished that things could be different, but he had come to terms with the fact that if Lizzy talked about having an imaginary friend to her companions, she would be ostracized and considered mad, so he put up with it as best he could.

At Christmas, Nigel invited Lizzy to come and stay with him. Polly wanted Lizzy to refuse and spend Christmas with her, but of course Lizzy chose her father. Fred went with her and they had a wonderful holiday season. Nigel had moved to New York City and Lizzy got to see Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park and many other landmarks. Nigel even took her to see a broadway play. Fred had a wildly good time. He was so entertained by the people, the lights, the crowds and the food that he didn't need to resort to pranks to keep himself occupied. Of course it was a huge letdown coming back home to Polly and her perfectionism, but Fred was encouraged to see that Lizzy's spirits had received a huge boost from her visit to her father. It seemed to reinforce the idea to her that the world didn't revolve around her mother and her opinions.

It was over the spring semester that several things happened that further altered the nature of Fred and Lizzy's relationship. For one thing Lizzy had something that could only be termed as a "growth spurt". She shot up several inches and suddenly blossomed a slim, curvy figure. Some friends of hers at school took her shopping and she suddenly began to dress more like a young woman instead of a little girl. Polly, who had disapproved of Lizzy's rather childish wardrobe before, now changed her tack and began to complain that Lizzy was dressing too old. Lizzy generally ignored her.

Fred did not disapprove of the new style of dressing, but he found it rather disconcerting that his little Snotface could now look him in the eye to have a conversation instead of hovering somewhere below his shoulder. He began to feel rather awkward about being affectionate with her now that he couldn't toss her up in the air or give her piggy back rides. He didn't particularly like Lizzy's new stature because it made her seem more like a grown-up and grown-up spelled Fred-having-to-leave.

Her new looks also began to attract boys, something Fred hated with all his might. Lizzy could have as many girlfriends as she liked and Fred was happy as a clam...but _boys_...! Specifically these kinds of boys. The rather stunted, nerdy specimens Lizzy was casually friends with in her literature club didn't bother him so much, but the tall, attractive males who began to take notice of her dark, alluring eyes and dainty curves grated on him like sandpaper. Fortunately, Lizzy did not take much notice of them. She was more interested in her grades and girlfriends than "the dumb jocks at school". This suited Fred just fine.

Then one afternoon, late in the spring semester, Fred and Lizzy had a conversation which brought it home to him more than ever, that Lizzy was no longer a child.

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in late April. Lizzy was done with her homework for the weekend, the Mega-Beast had run out of chores for her to do, and Fred was feeling rather neglected. Lizzy had been very busy all week and they had had almost no time to themselves. Fred caught her in the kitchen as she was about to make herself some lunch. "C'mon Snotface, let's take that outside and go to the park and have a picnic! It's too nice outside to spend the day indoors!"

Lizzy was happy to oblige. Any excuse to get away from her mother she jumped at. They packed some sandwiches and chips and fruit (Fred still missed the days of candy bars and juice boxes) and made for the park. The day was perfect. The sky overhead was a brilliant azure, birds sang in the fluffy green trees and a soft breeze ruffled their hair. Fred and Lizzy held hands as they walked, laughing and talking. They met a few people on their way who gave Lizzy some rather strange looks, but neither of them cared.

The had lunch on an old blanket under their tree and then they sat in the dappled sunshine and watched the children playing at the park. The afternoon sun was warm and the sound of bees buzzing made them both feel lazy. They soon stretched out on their blanket and watched the clouds through the tree tops. Fred was about to doze off when Lizzy said softly from the blanket beside him, "Fred?"

"Yeah?" he said drowsily.

"Fred... can I ask you a question?

"Mmm Hmm."

Lizzy rolled over on her side and propped herself up on one elbow. "Fred... you've been my, well... my 'imaginary friend' for what?... eleven years now?"

"Mmm, something like that."

"Well, I've just been thinking about that lately... and..." she paused as though fumbling for words. Something in her tone made Fred open his eyes and listen.

"Fred, how _imaginary_ are you exactly?"

He rolled over and looked at her in his turn. "What do you mean?"

Lizzy frowned. "Well, I just mean... I'm fifteen years old, right? Technically I'm way too old to have an imaginary friend. But you... you're so _real_ to me. I'm starting to wonder, are you just a figment of my imagination or are you something else?"

"Why wouldn't I be a figment of your imagination?" asked Fred uncomfortably. Lizzy was asking some very pointed questions about things she shouldn't really be thinking about.

In reply she squeezed her eyes shut. "Do you know what I'm doing right now?" she asked softly.

"Shutting your eyes."

"No, I'm imagining an apple. A big, red juicy apple, right in my hand. I can see it, smell it, almost taste it." She opened her eyes. "But when I open my eyes... it's not there. I was just imagining it." She looked over at Fred and then reached out and softly touched his cheek. "I can see you all the time," she murmured. "When my eyes are closed and when they're open. I can see you, hear you. When I touch you you're warm, solid. I can even smell you. You have your own distinctive scent. You're as real to me as anyone else I know. How can that just be my imagination?"

Fred felt very strange. Lizzy's fingertips were so gentle on his cheek. He couldn't remember her ever having touched him like this before. He wanted to reach up and cover her hand with his. He swallowed hard.

"Snotface... that's a very complicated question."

"How complicated?"

"I-I don't know how to answer it to be honest. I'm real to you -- very real perhaps, but not to anyone else... in case you haven't noticed."

Lizzy chuckled softly. She let her fingers trail down his face to his neck. "I have noticed," she said quietly. "And it's -- well it's starting to worry me."

"In what way?" he asked huskily.

She turned her great, dark eyes to his blue ones. "Fred," she whispered "Am I crazy?"

"Do you feel crazy?" he asked gently.

"Most of the time, no. But don't they say that that's the way all crazy people are? Everyone around them can see that they're crazy but they themselves think they're perfectly normal?"

"Well, do other people around you think you're crazy?"

"Sometimes I think mother does," said Lizzy dryly. "But no one else, as far as I know."

"Then you're not crazy, Snotface."

"Then why do I have you? Do other people have imaginary friends? Most of the time that's called mental illness."

Fred smiled. "You're not mentally ill, Lizzy. Let's just say that I was sent here to -- to help you cope. You haven't exactly had an easy life. I'm sort of like your guide, your stronger self who knows how to stand up to the Mega-Beast and not let the weaker side of you get trampled."

"You sound like a psychologist," snickered Lizzy.

Fred shook his head. "I'm just stating the facts, Snotface."

"You said you were sent here; well who sent you?"

Fred was quiet for a moment. He knew he had to choose his words very carefully. The Powers-That-Be did not want their presence known to the human world. "Call it fate... call it destiny, I don't know. All I know is that something somewhere saw that you needed a little extra help and they decided that I was the bloke for the job."

Lizzy was quiet, thinking.

"Does -- does it _bother_ you having me around?" asked Fred fearfully.

"No, no," said Lizzy quickly. "Of course not. Oh Fred, how can you ask that? I don't think I could've _lived_ all these years without you... it's just sometimes I feel like I have this secret I have to keep. It's not a bad secret, it's just kind of a strange one. On the outside, I'm this perfectly normal fifteen year-old girl with a perfectly normal life (well somewhat normal anyway) but in reality, my best friend in the world is invisible to everyone but me. Do you have any idea how strange that can feel?"

Fred shook his head.

Lizzy sighed. "Well... it can be very strange." She lay back on the blanket and gazed thoughtfully up at the sky.

Fred swallowed a lump in his throat, closed his eyes and made himself say it. "Lizzy... if you... if you don't want me around any more I-I'll understand. Just say the word and I'll go."

Lizzy whipped her head around and glared at him. "Would you stop saying that?" she said sharply. "Fred, have I ever given you the slightest impression that I wanted you gone? I told you already, I couldn't have lived all these years without you. You've made my life bearable. Whoever or whatever sent you to me knew what they were doing." She sat up on the blanket again, and went on more gently. "I _need_ you Fred. And if I have to live with you as my secret forever, then I'll do it. It's worth it. But please don't talk about leaving me. It makes me sad."

Fred lay looking up at her. He was fighting the urge to draw her into his arms, to hold her close as he once would have when she was little. But something held him back. Instead, he gently took her hand in his and squeezed it. "Okay Snotface," he murmured. "I won't talk about it any more. It makes me sad too."

She smiled then. "Thank you."

They lay back on their blanket for a while longer, watching the sky, lost in their own thoughts. After a while Fred sighed. "I guess we'd better be getting back."

"Yes, I guess so," murmured Lizzy. They were very quiet as they folded up their blanket and gathered their picnic things. On the way home, Lizzy began to chatter idly about the play her school was doing, but Fred didn't really listen. He was going over in his mind everything they had talked about. He realized more forcefully than ever that the vestiges of the child left in Lizzy were dying. She becoming more aware: aware of herself, aware of him, aware of her surroundings. Things she wouldn't have thought to question before were now being scrutinized. She no longer took his presence for granted. He was something to be examined, assessed. There had been a shift in the balance that day.

Lizzy would be a woman soon. That thought scared him badly... and intrigued him at the same time. He had never been fond of adults. He considered them stuffy, stressed and weighed down by a lot of unnecessary rules. But an adult with an imaginary friend...? New possibilities were suddenly opening in his mind. He rather liked the thought of being able to influence an adult Lizzy away from some of the trappings that other grown-ups fell into. If he could protect her from the cynicism, the heartbreak, the stupid mistakes he'd seen other adults make, what might she be like? It was tantalizing. Of course that was if the Powers-That-Be let him stay that long...

He continued to muse over all this the rest of the evening. Lizzy was quiet too. She sat reading a book, but he noticed that her eyes frequently stared into space. Eventually she excused herself to her mother and went up to bed. Fred did not follow her. He stretched out on the couch in the dark living room. As he lay in the darkness trying to sleep, his mind drifted unbidden toward the memory of Lizzy touching his cheek. It was a simple thing... just the slightest caress, but for some reason it sent odd flutters through Fred's heart when he thought about it. She had looked so pretty sitting there against the green leaves and blue sky... the wind wafting through her silky dark hair... He shook himself reproachfully. What was the _matter_ with him? He turned over on the couch, trying to get comfortable. Yes, there had definitely been a shift in the balance that day.


	6. Sixteenth Birthday

**Title: **A Parallel Universe - Sixteenth Birthday

**Author:** Strella Smith

**Pairings: **Eventual Fred/Lizzy

**Rating: **PG (very mild language)

Fred always thought of that summer -- the summer before Lizzy's sixteenth birthday -- as the calm before the storm. It had an idyllic quality to it. Lizzy was on the cusp of adulthood, but there was enough child left in her that they had a ripping good time together. They went to the park almost every day and bought ice cream from the ice cream truck on the way home. They went swimming and roller skating and Fred sometimes tagged along with Lizzy and her small circle of friends to a baseball game. They stayed up talking late at night, lying on their backs on the bed with the window opened and the soft summer breeze floating over them.

Fred still heard nothing from the Powers-That-Be. He prayed that it would stay that way always. He was so happy with Lizzy right now. He couldn't bear the thought of anything spoiling it. Polly was very preoccupied with her garden club that summer, so she didn't have much time to harass her daughter. Fred still played the occasional trick on her -- slipping a laxative into her coffee one morning kept him in convulsions the whole day every time she ran for the bathroom -- but he honestly wasn't as interested in tormenting her as he used to be. He was supremely happy just to be with Lizzy.

Lizzy seemed very happy too. At times he caught her looking at him in an odd way, her beautiful eyes soft with some emotion, a smile hovering around her lips. The look gave him the same feeling her touch on his cheek did. He didn't quite know what to make of it. They had always been close, but this was different... more intense, and a little frightening. He began to have bizarre thoughts flash across his mind from time to time -- reaching out and stroking Lizzy's cheek with his crooked finger when she was standing close to him... cuddling his face into her soft, black hair when she was standing with her back to him... pulling her into his arms while they were lying on the bed, talking...

Of course he always shook himself out of these thoughts violently. He found them genuinely disconcerting. This was _Snotface_ he was thinking of, after all! Why was he suddenly having these uncalled-for, gushy, daydreams about her? He was turning into a big 'girl' himself! Blah! He usually countered these fantasies by going and doing something particularly disgusting or disastrous in order to get his mind back on track. But the next time he brushed against Lizzy unexpectedly or caught a whiff of her perfume, he was back to square one.

He would have loved to say that he found no enjoyment whatsoever in these fantasies, but he would have been a dirty liar if he had. In fact, the feeling that they left him with was such a warm, delicious one that he found it increasingly hard to push them from his mind. At times he went around, his emotions a mixture of confusion, disgust, and sheer bliss. And Lizzy kept looking at him with her soft, dark eyes...

And then her sixteenth birthday happened.

Lizzy's friends from school decided to plan a surprise sweet sixteen party for her. Fred only knew about it because he heard Polly on the phone discussing it with one of Lizzy's friends. Polly seemed to think the party was a lot of trouble for nothing, but in the end she agreed to go along with it. Fred poured grape juice concentrate all over her newly-scrubbed, white kitchen sink to punish her for her hesitation and Polly couldn't blame Lizzy because she was out at the time.

Fred was very pleased with the party idea. Lizzy hadn't had a real birthday party since the one she had had when she was seven. Polly had decided they were too much trouble and expense. Lizzy generally went out with friends or just stayed home. Her birthdays probably would have been quite miserable if Fred hadn't worked so hard to make her feel special. He always brought her the flowers from Limbo, he always wished her happy birthday and would go around with her and do whatever she wanted.

Occasionally, if the day were particularly drab, he would dream up some form of entertainment for her. One year when she was still quite little, he preformed a "puppet show" of sorts with her dolls and stuffed animals with him acting as puppeteer, crouched behind the bed. How she had laughed! Another year, he taught the pigeons to fly to and from the ice cream truck and steal candy bars and drop them on the roof outside her window. The year after Polly and Nigel's divorce, he donned one of his many costumes and appeared to her as a prince. He had her dress up in her prettiest dress and then took her out into the back yard and together they reenacted the story of Cinderella... or rather their version of it which involved Cinderella slipping in dog doo which caused her to lose her slipper and the Fairy Godmother being afflicted with terrible gas. They had had so much fun that Lizzy woke her mother up laughing and she got in trouble for wearing her best dress to play outside in the dirt after dark.

But this year Fred wouldn't have to resort to such measures. He hung around Polly whenever she was on the phone and picked up as much information as he could. Apparently the party was to be at Lizzy's friend Shelly's house and all her friends from the literature club were to be there. Fred rubbed his hands together in anticipation. This was one surprise the Mega-Beast couldn't mess up. She was allowed to be in on the details but in no way allowed to help with the planning and setting up. Lizzy would have a truly wonderful sixteenth birthday, planned by people who cared about her.

The morning of the party Fred made a trip to Limbo to get Lizzy's flowers. He had been going only once a year to fetch them. He looked around him at the golden, dreamlike landscape with it's floating buildings, ever-changing streets and brilliant flora, but it no longer felt like home to him. It was just a place where he had once lived. He went into one of the nearby gardens (he now avoided the central one) and began to gather the brilliant purple, blue, and yellow blooms that grew there.

"So she's sixteen today, eh?" said a voice nearby.

Fred whirled in shock. Sagacity was standing there, watching him.

"Sagacity! What -- where did you come from?"

"Oh, I just happened to be walking nearby and I saw you in here. It's been a long time, Fred."

"Yes, yes it has," he said uncomfortably.

"How is Lizzy?"

"Fine -- fine, she's doing real well. Thanks for asking."

"Glad to hear it." Sagacity was watching him with her penetrating brown eyes. "And how are _you_ Fred?"

He laughed a little nervously. "Oh great, great! You know me! I'm Drop Dead Fred! Always in good form!"

Sagacity just smiled again.

"So... er... how are things... here?" asked Fred a little lamely.

"Oh fine. The same. You know, nothing ever changes in Limbo."

"Yes, that's true," said Fred. He had never thought about it, but it _was_ true. He looked closely at Sagacity. "Say... are you still *ahem* keeping an eye on us? I mean, is the "experiment" still going on?"

Sagacity smiled again. "I was wondering if you were going to ask about that. The answer is yes, Fred. We are still watching you and still waiting to see what the outcome of all this will be."

"Ah," it was all he could think of to say.

Sagacity kept watching him closely. "Are you glad you did it Fred? Went back to her, I mean? Stayed with her all these years?"

"Yes," said Fred quietly. "More glad than I can say, Sagacity."

She sighed. "That's what I thought you would say. Well, I'm glad you're both happy. I'll be sure to tell Judge Fair about our little encounter. Good to see you Fred."

She was walking away, when Fred called after her, "Sagacity!"

She turned. "Yes?"

Fred came up to stand close to her. "Sagacity... is the Judge thinking about... well, _ending_ the experiment any time soon?"

Sagacity raised an eyebrow. "Does Lizzy want you to leave yet?"

Fred shook his head.

"Then the answer is no. The Judge is taking this little -er- study of human nature quite seriously. I think at this point he just wants to see what will unfold naturally."

Fred sighed with relief in spite of himself. "Okay, good. Thanks Sagacity!"

"No problem, Fred. You know, you _can_ come back to Limbo any time you want. Just because we're doing things a little differently with you doesn't mean you're not welcome here."

"I know," murmured Fred. "I just... I like being with Lizzy."

Sagacity gave him a strange look. "Yes... I've noticed. Well, have a good day with her. Sweet sixteen only comes once. Make her feel special."

Fred grinned. "No prob!"

"You take care, Fred."

"You too, Sagacity."

. . .

Lizzy was awake when he materialized in her room. She was sitting at her little dressing table brushing her hair and humming a tune to herself. Fred popped up behind her and held out his present.

"Oh _Fred_!" Lizzy exclaimed when she saw the flowers. It was the biggest bouquet he had ever brought her. "They're so beautiful!" She took them and buried her face in them like she always did. "You got so many this time." She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. Fred felt the disconcerting flutter through his heart again. Was he imagining things or did Lizzy let her lips linger on his cheek a little longer than was absolutely necessary?

"You're welcome, Snotface," he said gruffly. "Happy birthday."

She smiled at him, still lingering near. "Fred... I've never asked you before... but _where_ do you get these beautiful flowers? Mother can't ever see them."

He smiled, enjoying her closeness, her curiosity. He absently brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. She turned pink. "Well now, that's a little bit of a secret, Miss Snotface. I get them from the place I disappear to."

"Which you still won't tell me where it is."

"Nope. There's some things naughty little girls don't need to know."

She smacked him playfully on the arm. "I'm sixteen today, Fred! I'm hardly a little girl anymore!"

"No," he said quietly. "No you're not."

Something in his tone made her pause and look up at him again. "So... will you tell me?"

For a fraction of a second, he almost did. Something made him want to share that part of himself with her. He knew everything about her, she knew almost nothing about him, apart from what he allowed her to see. He wanted her to know who and what he truly was. But at the last second, a warning bell sounded in his mind. He didn't want to take too many chances. Judge Fair might be simply watching and waiting... but that was exactly it: Judge Fair was watching and waiting. He didn't want to give him any reason to snatch him away from Lizzy.

"Maybe when you're older," he said smiling wickedly.

"Please Fred? For my birthday?"

"Maybe for your seventeenth."

She groaned in defeat. "Oh fine, then be that way! I'm guessing they're _imaginary_ though, since only I can see them."

"Good guess," he teased.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Go away. I'm going to get dressed. I'm supposed to meet Lisa and Angie at the mall."

"Can I come?"

"If you want. But be nice. Today's my birthday, remember? No embarrassing pranks."

"Snotface!" Fred pretended to be hurt. "Would I do that to you?"

"OUT!"

Fred followed Lizzy and her friends around the mall, just as he had four years before on her twelfth birthday. The girls were a little older now and a little less silly (but not much). They bought some new clothes for Lizzy and then took her out to lunch. Afterward they met some other girls and went to get her a manicure and pedicure. Fred got very bored at this point, but he restrained himself from doing anything embarrassing.

That evening, Lizzy went home and put on a nice dress. Some of her friends were picking her up under the pretense of taking her out to dinner. They were to go to Shelly's house to get her and then spring the surprise on Lizzy. Fred sat in his armchair and watched her get ready. He smiled admiringly as she curled her long, silky black hair and put little diamond earrings in her ears. The earrings were a gift from her father for her sixteenth birthday. Her dress, which was a deep rose color, fell in soft tiers around her slim figure. She looked sweet, innocent, but so beautiful, he thought. A pleasant vision of coming up behind her and kissing her tender, white neck floated across his brain. Then he shook his head forcefully. There he went again.

Lizzy frowned at him in the mirror. "You alright, Fred?"

"Huh? What? Yes! Fine!"

"Do I look okay?"

"Oh, I suppose so... for a girl."

Lizzy rolled her eyes.

"You'd better hurry," Fred chided her. "You're gonna be late."

"Are you coming tonight?"

"No, no I don't think so. I'll stay here. You have a good time, Snotface."

"Oh, okay."

He was pleased to see that she looked disappointed. He actually was coming to the party, but he had decided to surprise her along with everyone else.

The door bell rang. "There they are," sighed Lizzy. She grabbed her purse. "Bye Fred."

He got up from his chair. "Have fun, Snotface."

"Thanks."

He caught her as she went out the door. "You look beautiful, by the way," he said softly. "For a girl."

She smiled then, blushing deeply. "Thanks Fred."

For a fraction of a second, they stood in the doorway, facing each other, and odd tension crackling between them. Then the doorbell rang again, and Lizzy whirled away and was gone. Fred leaned against the doorpost and breathed deeply. He was really going to have to learn to manage himself.

He waited a little while and then honed in on Lizzy's whereabouts. It was one of the gifts imaginary friends had that they could sense where their charges were at all times. Fred knew Lizzy's signal like he knew the back of his own hand. It was stronger to him than that any other charge he had ever had. He could pick her up anywhere. He got his bearings now and then followed her signal to a house a few blocks away.

He was just in time. The car with Lizzy in it was just pulling into the driveway. Fred hastily materialized in the house amongst the waiting guests. Of course none of them could see him, but he knew Lizzy would. He grinned looking around at the excited faces. The atmosphere of anticipation was like a stimulant to Fred. He drew a deep breath, and turned his attention on the door where Lizzy would come in.

A few minutes later it opened. Lizzy's friend Lisa came in first and then Lizzy followed. She was saying something and was in mid-sentince when she was interrupted by the loud scream of "SURPRISE"!!! from all her waiting friends.

Her reaction was priceless. Fred couldn't have hoped for a more gratifying one. She jumped a mile and then leaned against the door frame with her hand over her eyes, laughing hysterically. Her friends crowded around her. "Happy birthday, Lizzy! Were you surprised? Did we scare you?"

"Yes, yes," said Lizzy still laughing. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Everyone laughed and soon Lizzy was born away amidst a group of her laughing, talking cronies to eat and make merry. She caught sight of Fred across the room and grinned at him happily. He grinned back, enjoying the sight of her having so much fun. Then he went to enjoy the food. After a while he sensed that Lizzy was in another part of the house and went to find her. He ran into her in the hall upstairs on the way back from the restroom. There was no one else around at the moment and she laughed and threw her arms around him. "Fred, you rascal! Did you know about this party all the time?"

He grinned back at her, hugging her against him tightly. "Of course I did. Aren't I good at keeping secrets?"

"Good! I didn't have a clue! I don't know how you did it!"

"'Cause I'm Drop Dead Fred!" he said smugly. "I'm the best at everything!"

"Oh really?" she giggled still clinging to him.

"Yeah, really," he grinned wickedly.

"Especially at being humble, hmm?"

"Oh especially that." He tickled her under her chin. Lizzy laughed and tried to squirm away. He held her more firmly. Lizzy stopped struggling and then her eyes softened. "Thank you, Fred," she said gently. "This is one of the best birthdays I've ever had. You helped make it that way."

He stopped tickling her and looked down at her, suddenly flooded with adoration. He drew her close, cuddling her to him and brushing his nose softly across hers. She blushed faintly. "You deserve it, Lizzy," he murmured huskily. "I'm glad I've gotten to be with you for twelve years."

"Oh Fred," she whispered, touched. "That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me." He rested his forehead against hers, his fringe of red hair brushing against her black one. She looked shyly up into his eyes and her small hand stroked the side of his neck. He loved her so much at that moment he could hardly bear it. He drew her head down against his chest and held her close in his strong arms, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair.

At that moment, Shelly came around the corner and paused in amazement. "Lizzy! What on earth are you doing?"

Lizzy and Fred broke apart in shock. Of course Shelly couldn't see Fred, but the position Lizzy was standing in in his arms certainly looked strange. She flushed brilliant red. "Oh... nothing, Shell, I was just -er- stretching. She stretched exaggeratedly.

Shelly laughed. "Well, you sure looked funny. Come on back downstairs, we're gonna cut the cake in a little while."

"Okay, said Lizzy, still a little flustered. Fred put his arm gently around her shoulders and started to steer her toward the staircase.

"Oh by the way," said Shelly over her shoulder. "Lowell just got here. He brought a friend with him. Someone he says knows you."

Lizzy frowned. "Really? I don't know who that could be."

"Some guy who used to live around here apparently. His name is Nicky... or something like that."

Lizzy shook her head in bewilderment. Fred tugged her gently by the shoulders toward the stairs. "Who could she be talking about?" Lizzy whispered to him. He shrugged. He didn't really care. He was feeling irked at Shelly for interrupting their tender moment.

They came back down the stairs and went into the kitchen area. A group of people were standing around the newly arrived Lowell, chatting with him, and standing beside him was a handsome young man with a cheerful boyish face, dirty blond hair and warm brown eyes. Fred frowned, not recognizing the newcomer, but Lizzy froze.

"Mickey?" she asked incredulously. "Mickey Bunce?"

The young man looked up and broke into a large grin. "Betsy!" he exclaimed.

Lizzy laughed in amazement. "Mickey! I haven't seen you in ages! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I work with Lowell over at the EZ Mart. He kept talking about going to a party for a girl named Lizzy and the other day I finally thought to ask him what your last name was. He told me and..." Mickey shrugged, "here I am. I hope you don't mind me crashing the party. I just wanted to see you after all these years."

Lizzy laughed. "Of course I don't mind! It's so good to see you again, Mickey!" She turned to the others. "Mickey and I used to live next door to each other when we were little. Gosh but we used to have fun!"

"We sure did," chuckled Mickey.

There was a general murmur of approval and understanding. The other guests went back to talking. Mickey and Lizzy moved slightly away from them into a corner of the kitchen.

"Where do you live?" Lizzy wanted to know.

"Well, I'm still with my folks on the other side of town in the house we moved to after we left the one next door to you. I go to the high school over there too. Do you still live in that same house?"

"Still there," said Lizzy.

They continued talking, seemingly oblivious to anyone else. Fred had observed all this in a state of shock. He stood staring at Mickey and Lizzy, and if anyone had been able to see him, they would have seen an expression of abject horror on his face. Mickey Fartpants!! His old enemy! What stroke of bad luck had brought him back? Fred shook his head in helpless distress. He felt like he had just been hit with an atom bomb and he needed a few minutes to recover. He sank down in a chair at the kitchen table, still staring at the chatting Lizzy and Mickey. Lizzy did not even seem to notice his discomfort. In fact, she didn't seem to notice him at all. She stood there laughing and talking to Mickey as if he didn't exist. Fred watched her in disbelief. Was this the same girl who had cuddled so lovingly into his arms just a few minutes before, gazing up at him as if he were the only thing on the earth that mattered?

The rest of the party was a disagreeable blur in Fred's mind. Lizzy talked with Mickey the entire rest of the evening. Fred watched them sing "Happy Birthday" to Lizzy and cut her cake. He kept hoping that she would get enough of talking to Mickey and come back to him. He had been entertaining delightful fantasies of taking her off to some quiet corner and feeding her cake (and maybe smearing it just a little) and laughing intimately with her at the nerdy boys trying to hit it off with the girls, and maybe just maybe, laying her head down on his shoulder and feeling like the smuggest, luckiest bastard of an imaginary friend in the whole world because she was his, his beautiful, darling little Lizzy Snotface.

He might have saved himself the brain-power of dreaming though, for all the good it did him. As far as he could tell, Lizzy never so much as even looked his direction the rest of the evening. She laughed and chatted animatedly with Mickey and anyone else who came over to talk, but she seemed to have forgotten that Fred was there. At last, feeling bitter and rejected, he willed himself away from the party and back to Lizzy's house. The Mega-Beast had gone to bed. Fred vengefully squeezed her toothpaste tube all over the bathroom counter, just to give vent to his feelings, but it didn't really help that much.

He curled up on the couch in the dark living room and lay there, nursing his hurt feelings until he heard Lizzy come in. He couldn't see the clock in the room, but he knew it was well after midnight. At any other time, Polly would have raised hell over Lizzy being that late, but she had agreed to suspend her curfew for just this one night.

He heard Lizzy quietly make her way upstairs to her room. He heard the door close. After quite a long while he heard her voice in his head, asking for him. "Fred? Where are you? Fred?" He crossed his arms determined not to go. She didn't deserve his company after the way she had treated him.

"Fred?" came Lizzy's voice in his head again. She sounded concerned. "Fred, where did you go? I want to talk to you."

He lay on the couch and ignored her as long as he could. She kept calling and asking for him, but he stayed determinedly where he was. It was the first time in his life that he had willingly refused to come to Lizzy when she called. "Fred..." pleaded Lizzy. "Are you okay? Has something happened to you? I'm getting worried."

He softened a little -- just a very little -- at that. He was getting tired of listening to her beg for him anyway. He sighed and willed himself into her room, materializing into his chair.

"Fred!" gasped Lizzy in relief. "Where on earth have you been? I've been calling and calling for you."

"Have you?" asked Fred coldly. Lizzy looked at him, taken aback by his sharp tone.

"Yes, I have. I was getting worried about you."

"Oh, well isn't that nice?" said Fred sarcastically.

Lizzy looked stunned, but decided not to make an issue out of the comment. "Why did you leave the party so soon?" she inquired.

Fred barked a laugh. "Why did I leave the party? That's a funny question! A very funny question! Oh yes, ha ha!"

Lizzy stared at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Fred! What is the matter with you? Is something wrong?"

"You have the nerve to ask," he said bitterly.

Lizzy was getting more and more upset. "Fred stop it! If something's wrong just tell me what it is!"

"You really don't know?" he sneered.

"No!" Lizzy sounded on the verge of tears now. "What are you talking about?"

"You completely threw over me and everyone else the entire evening for that Mickey Fartpants! I never saw anything so disgusting!"

Lizzy looked completely blank. "Wh-what?"

"Mickey Bunce Fartpants," snarled Fred. "You're little friend from next door. You ditched me and all your other friends so you could talk to him _all night_!"

Lizzy stared in disbelief. "You're -- you're mad at me for talking to _Mickey_?"

Fred just glared.

Lizzy suddenly turned a very bright shade of red. "I never heard anything so ridiculous in my entire life," she said heatedly. "I did not _ditch_ anybody."

"You most certainly did!"

"Fred, I hadn't seen him in ages. I just wanted to-to catch up with him. Nobody else seemed to mind. They were all acting happy for me. I don't know why you've got such a problem with it!"

"I'm your best friend," he pouted. "You should've spent at least as much time talking to me as to him!"

"Fred, in case you've forgotten I NEVER talk to you in public -- if I can help it! I don't know why you're making such a bit deal about this!"

"_I_ wanted to spend the evening with you!"

Lizzy shook her head in consternation. "Fred, I see you all the time. I spend almost every evening with you. Can't you be generous enough to let me have one evening to visit with an old friend?"

"Not when it's Mickey Fartpants," he said sullenly.

Lizzy's eyes narrowed. "You've always disliked Mickey, haven't you?" she said accusingly. "Even when we were kids. I didn't realize it then, but looking back, I saw that you always had it in for him. Why do you hate him so much Fred?"

He glared at her. "I don't hate him, I just... can't stand him."

Lizzy crossed her arms. "Same thing. Why?"

"Because -- because he's an oily, pimply, obnoxious teenage _boy_!"

Lizzy rolled her eyes. "He most certainly is not... oily and pimply and obnoxious that is. He's very good-looking and he's one of the nicest boys I've ever met."

Fred snorted in disgust. "Well I can't stand him. You can like him if you want, but puh-leez don't ask me to!"

"Fine," said Lizzy shortly. "But don't you dare accuse me of ditching you when I want to spend time with him. I have every right to."

"Fine!" snapped Fred. "You go spend time with your stupid, ugly, oily teenage friend. Just don't expect me to be _happy_ about it!"

"I won't!"

"Fine!"

They stood across the room from each other, glaring like two gladiators in a ring. "Now if you'll excuse me," said Lizzy icily. "I want to go to bed... _alone_!"

"Go then!" spat Fred. "I hope you sprout warts during the night!"

"LEAVE!!"

He left, disappearing in a cloud of angry, green sparkles.

For the first time, in a very long time, he went back to Limbo. He found a place where he knew nobody could find him and curled up in a miserable ball to sulk. He was already regretting his fight with Snotface. They very seldom quarreled, but when they did, it always made him miserable. Nothing was right when he and Lizzy were mad at each other.

And he _was_ mad at her! He didn't care what she said, she had no right to completely dump him for anyone -- even an old friend she hadn't seen in a very long time!

Fred scrunched wretchedly down into his nest. What was Mickey in comparison to him anyway? Had _he_ been there for Lizzy all those years, protecting her, entertaining her, comforting her... loving her with all his heart? He certainly hadn't! No, it was _Fred_ who had done all those things! And now Lizzy shunted him aside like he was an old worn-out boot.

Deep down inside, he knew he was being ridiculous, over-reacting. All Lizzy had done was chat for a few hours with a friend. Why did that make him feel so angry, so threatened? He shook his head wearily. He hated all these damned, confusing human emotions. Why couldn't he go back to just being carefree Drop Dead Fred who didn't love anybody?

_Because you can't_, whispered a knowing little voice in his head. _You're too far gone for that_.

Shut up, he thought grumpily. I can go back any time.

_Sure you can_, sneered the voice.

I can.

_Then just go on and do it -- leave her. She makes you angry anyway. Just leave her and let Mickey Fartpants have her all to himself._

Over my dead body, he thought grimly.

_You see_, said the voice wisely. _You CAN'T go back_. _You're in it for the long haul now_.

Fine! He thought furiously. Just leave me alone. I want to sulk in peace.

The voice said no more and Fred eventually fell into an uneasy sleep. He dreamed all night of handsome teenage boys with their arms around Lizzy's shoulders, taunting him and pulling her away from him. She cuddled up to them brazenly, smiling at them with her dark, beautiful eyes. But when she turned her eyes on Fred, she scowled at him and told him to leave her alone.

Fred woke up in a very bad mood the next morning.


	7. Jealousy

**Title: **A Parallel Universe - Jealousy

**Author: **Strella Smith

**Pairings:** Lizzy/Mickey, Eventual Fred/Lizzy

**Rating: **PG (mild language)

**Author's note: There is another scene in here lifted directly from the movie, but since it takes place in an alternate universe and at a different time in Lizzy's life, it plays out slightly differently. **

It was almost time for school to start again. Lizzy would be a sophomore this year. One evening in late August, she went through her closet, determined that she had "nothing to wear" and decided she needed a new wardrobe for the semester.

"I'll go shopping with you," offered Polly. "I can give you some tips on what to wear."

Lizzy sighed. "No mother, you always try to dress me like you and I want to dress for myself. I'll go shopping tomorrow... alone."

"Fine," snapped Polly, and marched away.

Lizzy sighed again and turned back to her closet.

Fred was lying on the bed alternating between reading comic books and watching the exchange between Snotface and the Mega-Beast out of the corner of his eye. He rolled over onto his stomach and eyed Lizzy interestedly. He wanted to make a smart remark about her going shopping for more clothes, but he noticed the irritated expression on her face and thought better of it. He really didn't want to set her off about anything.

Fred and Lizzy were back on speaking terms due to a shaky truce between them concerning Mickey Bunce. They had given each other the cold shoulder for several days after their fight, but they were both so unhappy that they finally agreed to come to some kind of terms about it. The conditions of the truce were simply that Fred wouldn't hound Lizzy about Mickey if Lizzy simply agreed not to bring him up. The conditions kept the fighting at bay, but there was an unpleasant tension between them that had never existed before.

"Where you going shopping?" Fred wanted to know.

Lizzy glanced at him. "The mall I guess."

"Can I come?"

Lizzy shrugged. "If you want. I'll just be looking at a lot of stupid, "girly" clothes. You always think that's boring."

"Well, maybe we can go to the food court afterward and start a food fight," suggested Fred, a wicked glint coming into his eye.

Lizz shot him a dirty look.

"... or not," he finished lamely.

Lizzy continued sorting her clothes. "I just want to go and shop and get my things and leave tomorrow," she said crisply.

"Okay, fine."

Lizzy eyed him. "I mean it Fred, no shenanigans. I don't want to have to deal with any store managers firmly escorting me off the premises."

Fred grinned in spite of himself. He vividly remembered one such incident at a particular clothing store involving a lot of women's plus-sized underwear strewn around a dressing room. Lizzy refused to shop there now.

"Okay, okay," he said. "You win." Then he sighed. Snotface wasn't quite as much fun as she used to be. He supposed it was all a part of "growing up". He didn't think he liked it much.

The next day, Lizzy headed to the mall right after breakfast. She had gotten her driver's permit the week before and was allowed to drive the car short distances. Fred hopped in the front seat to ride along with her. He wasn't really excited about going; Lizzy was correct in her assessment of his enjoyment of shopping. He found it mind-numbingly boring. But he wanted to be with her. He hoped that something would happen to return some normality to their relationship and ease the strain of their disagreement over Mickey.

He tagged along behind her as she shopped, trying to be enthusiastic. Lizzy kept taking things off the racks, holding them up to herself and then either putting them back or hooking them over her arm to take to the dressing room to try on. Fred watched her impatiently.

"What is the obsession with girls needing new clothes every year?" he wanted to know as Lizzy held a green silk shirt up to herself.

"Well, if you want to be popular at school, you have to dress nice," Lizzy told him. "Most of my clothes aren't exactly the latest fashion, so I want some new ones."

"Since when did you care about being popular?" demanded Fred. "Last year you just wanted to fade into the walls."

"That was last year, this is this year," said Lizzy cooly. "I'm older now. I want to fit in a little better, have more friends."

"What about your friends at the literature club?"

"They're still my friends. But I'd like to get to know some other people too."

"And having new clothes will help you do that?"

Lizzy sighed exasperatedly. "Yes!" she said. "It'll... boost my confidence."

"Oh, okay," muttered Fred.

Lizzy checked her watch. "I'm gonna be late for my lunch," she commented.

Fred stared at her. "Who are you having lunch with?" he wanted to know.

Lizzy hung the green shirt over her arm. "An old friend," she replied evasively.

Fred grinned appreciatively, thinking she was being coy with him. Sudden visions of himself and Lizzy tucked away in a quiet corner of a cafe, eating and talking flashed through his brain. He was about to suggest a place, when Lizzy caught his grin and shook her head. "And I don't mean you. You're not invited."

Fred's pleasure changed to surprise, then hurt in an instant. "Why not?" he demanded loudly as he followed her back toward the dressing rooms. "We always do everything together!"

Lizzy ignored him and went into the dressing room to try on her clothes. He stood outside, hurt and fuming. Why was she being this way, so cold and distant? He wanted his old Snotface back, his sweet little girl who worshiped him and wanted him with her at all times.

Lizzy stayed in the dressing room for a long time. When she came out, she brushed past him and went to the check-out line to buy what she wanted. Fred followed, watching her resentfully.

When Lizzy was done checking out, she turned to Fred. "I'm going to lunch now," she said quietly. "And I'd like to go alone. I'll see you this evening, Fred."

"Why can't I come?"

"Because, I'd just rather you not."

And off she went. Fred watched her in furious disbelief. She had never brushed him off like that before! It hurt him beyond words. He wanted to rush after her and grab her by the shoulders and demand to know what was going on.

He disappeared in his green sparkles and flashed into Limbo. He found his favorite quiet spot and sat there fuming. How dare she treat him like this! After everything he had done for her too! She really was treating him like an old worn-out boot now! It wasn't fair!

A sudden rebellion overtook Fred. He didn't have to take this! He wanted to go see what Lizzy was doing, who this mysterious friend was with whom she was having lunch. He stood up and honed in on her signal.

He landed in the restaurant on the table right in front of her. She jumped and gasped in shock.

"Hi!" said Fred recklessly. "What's happening!"

Lizzy glared at him furiously and then peered around him at her companion. Fred looked over his shoulder to see who it was and froze in disbelief. Mickey Bunce was sitting across from Lizzy looking very pleasant and handsome.

Fred whipped back around and stared wrathfully at Lizzy. "You -- you're having lunch with _him_?"

"Go away!" hissed Lizzy.

Mickey Bunce leaned in the direction Lizzy was leaning and looked at her in confusion. "What?" he said.

Fred vanished off the table. Lizzy leaned back to her normal sitting position with a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry," she murmured, smiling at Mickey.

"No, no, no! Look, don't apologize," said Mickey warmly. "I _love_ being with you! It's been such a long time. I'm so glad we got to do this."

"Me too," said Lizzy sweetly.

"You look beautiful, by the way," continued Mickey enthusiastically. "You've grown into such a lovely girl, Elisabeth Cronin. I just really love being with you again!"

"God!" snarled Fred, suddenly popping up right beside Mickey. "What a drip! Just listen to him, gushing on and on about _love_! I always said you should be a _girl_!" He spat these words right at Mickey's face, but of course Mickey could neither see nor hear him.

Lizzy giggled in spite of herself. Fred left Mickey's side and came over to Lizzy. He was so consumed with jealousy, he wanted to snatch her up in his arms and carry her bodily away from her smiling date. He came to stand behind her and he rested his large hands possessively on her shoulders. She tensed up instantly.

"You know," Mickey went on, looking at Lizzy adoringly. "Some people believe that you really never, ever fall out of love."

Fred stared at his rival in disbelieving disgust. "Oh, look," he growled, dropping down beside Lizzy. "This isn't like when we were five. We're grow-ups now, so _piss off_!"

"I-I'd like to know more about the grown-up Mickey Bunce," said Lizzy, pointedly ignoring him. She smiled sweetly at Mickey and looked at him from under her eyelashes. Fred stared at her in horror. Up until now he had never seen her give that look to anybody but _him_! He gritted his teeth, his jealousy seething in his brain and clouding his reason. He was not going to stand idly by and let another man take his Snotface away from him... not yet! He decided he would sabotage this date if it was the last thing he ever did. Lizzy reached for her water goblet and started to take a sip. Instinctively, Fred grabbed her hand and jerked it forward. Water splashed out of it and on to the table.

"Okay, I..." began Mickey. He stopped and watched in confusion as Lizzy's hand continued to wobble uncontrollably as she and Fred silently fought for control over the glass. Water spilled everywhere.

"I -- well, I've obviously got my job and I'm still in school, like you..." he paused in bewilderment as Lizzy and Fred continued to struggle. Fred finally won and he grinned in triumph as he emptied the rest of the water onto Lizzy's lap, shaking the last few drops out thoroughly. Lizzy finally jerked her hand away and set the glass down with a thud. Mickey stared in amazement.

"Yes Mickey, go on," she said with false calmness, desperately trying to behave as though she hadn't done anything bizarre.

"Yes Mickey, go on!" invited Fred, beaming pleasantly at the stunned teen across the table.

"Okay... erm..." said Mickey uncertain but still polite. "Well, I've dated a few girls... nothing really serious you know, just gone out a few times. See that girl over there?" He pointed toward an attractive blond sitting a few tables over.

Fred grabbed Lizzy's arm and jerked it up into the air. "Uh huh?" said Lizzy, desperately trying to cling to a degree of normalcy.

"I dated her three or four times. She was nice but you know, just didn't turn out to be my type..."

Fred now had Lizzy's hand and was waving it spasmodically in the air as though she were conducting music.

"We didn't have much in common. She was more of the party type and, well I'm a fairly serious student with a job and we just weren't compatible, you know?"

Lizzy's movements became more and more erratic until with a final, wild gesture, Fred slammed her hand into her empty glass and it crashed to the floor and shattered.

Mickey stared at the glass and then back to Lizzy, obviously at a loss for words. Finally he asked, still scrupulously polite, "Why did you do that?"

Lizzy shot a wild-eyed glance at Fred. "I didn't," she said tensely.

Mickey laughed uncertainly. "Ah, yes you did, because I saw you do that."

Lizzy looked daggers at Fred, who smiled at her pleasantly and mouthed _'you'_ at her. "Oh, I did, didn't I?" said Lizzy sheepishly. "Ah to get the waiter's attention."

"Well, I don't think that works," Mickey pointed out good-humordly. At that moment the waiter came over to their table with their food. Mickey laughed incredulously. "Maybe that does work."

Fred watched this scenario with growing frustration. Mickey should've been thoroughly put off by Lizzy's bizzare antics by this point and yet he only seemed to be mildly bemused by them and maybe even a little entertained. Fred scowled at his rival. Okay fine, he was going to have to up the ante. He was going to have to make Lizzy look completely crazy.

"Your lunch," proclaimed the waiter, placing a plate of spaghetti in front of Lizzy. Fred leaned over and sniffed it like a bloodhound. "And your lunch, sir," he gave Mickey his food. He glanced down at the broken shards of glass on the floor. "That table leg must be loose again," he commented in mild irritation.

A sudden idea flashed through Fred's mind. He grabbed Lizzy's napkin off her lap and forced it over her face, smirking at Mickey. Lizzy fought with him wildly, trying to free her face. Mickey stared perplexedly. With a final mighty effort, Lizzy ripped the napkin out of Fred's fingers. Quick as lightening, she snatched at her composure, smiling weakly at her baffled date. "Peek-a-boo?"

To Fred's intense annoyance, Mickey actually chuckled indulgently.

"Peek-a-boo, yeah. We used to play that when we were kids, didn't we?"

Lizzy smiled back meekly and Fred gave an evil chuckle. Another brilliant idea seized him and he suddenly grabbed the sides of Lizzy's plate. She reacted with whip-like reflexes, grabbing it as well, and attempting to check his actions with it. He was stronger than she and he slowly lifted it off the table.

Mickey saw what she was doing and attempted to join in the spirit of things. "Oh yeah," he lifted his own plate and inhaled appreciatively. "Mmm, smells good!"

"Mmm!" said Lizzy smiling wretchedly. At that instant, she shot Fred such a pleading look that he was fleetingly startled and released his hold on her plate. Lizzy carefully lowered it back to the table and smiled in relief. It was short lived. After a few seconds of surprise at his own actions, Fred grabbed her plate (the edges of which she still held) and flung it into the air. It sailed across the room and crashed into the wall next to an occupied table. The woman sitting there screamed. Several other customers looked around, startled. Lizzy flushed a deep shade of red and scrunched down in her chair.

Mickey stared blankly at the chaos she had created. "Okay..." he said patiently. "Why did you do that?"

Lizzy leaned her head onto her hand and looked at him in defeat. "I'm crazy," she said apologetically.

Fred smiled at her adoringly. That was his girl! _Tell him, just go on and tell him, you're completely bonkers and not fit for him to date, then we can get out of here and things can go back to normal._ But Fred's triumph quickly turned to disbelieving horror when Mickey laughed fondly. "You are crazy in the most wonderful way," he declared. "I wish I could be like that! I wish I could do those kinds of things!"

Lizzy shrugged and laughed ruefully. Mickey, tapped his fork on the table, deliberating. "What the hell?" And without further ado, he picked up a handful of noodles and threw them at a customer, giggling with glee. He threw some more at another, eliciting sharp exclamations of outrage. Finally, he threw most of his plate at a suave-looking man sitting with two well-dressed women. The restaurant erupted into screams. Mickey laughed as though his sides would split.

The waiter chose that moment to enter the room. "Uh oh!" Fred slid in beside Lizzy and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, grinning appreciatively. The waiter halted for a split second viewing the scene in amazement and then strode over menacingly. "You don't throw spaghetti in _my_ restaurant!"

"Okay, okay fine!" Mickey jumped up chortling. "You do it!" He struck the bottom of the plates of food the waiter was holding and they flew high into the air. The entire restaurant erupted into screams.

"You and the _Puttanesca_ woman, out of here!" roared the waiter. Lizzy was white with humiliation, but Fred was rocking back and forth with laughter. "I like him a lot better than I used to!" he guffawed. Lizzy snatched up her purse and ran for the door. Fred followed, still shaking with laughter.

"Take it easy, huh? It was a joke!" chortled Mickey as he was escorted firmly from the premises. "Hey you guys should really loosen up!"

Once outside, he turned to Lizzy. "What is _Puttanesca_?"

"My clothes!" gasped Lizzy, remember that she had left her purchases in the restaurant.

"I'll get them!" cried Mickey. And he barged his way back into the restaurant, prompting another outburst of indignation from the restaurant workers.

Fred poked Lizzy in the ribs. "Having fun?" he exclaimed. But Lizzy had had enough. Firing one blistering look of fury at him, she turned and fled.

. . .

"Snotface?" said Fred pleadingly for the hundredth time. Lizzy had driven home without bothering to get her clothes. Once there, she had rushed to her room, locked herself in, and cried stormy tears of rage and humiliation for over an hour. Polly had come up and knocked on the door, demanding to know what was the matter. "Go away!" Lizzy cried. "I don't want to talk to anybody."

"Elisabeth! I am your mother! I demand to know what is wrong!"

Lizzy ignored her and continued weeping. After Polly gave up, Fred began. He was now feeling truly bad about what he had done. He hadn't meant to upset her _this_ much! He only wanted to get even with her for ditching him for Mickey. He was beginning to see that maybe he had gone a little too far. He stood outside her room, knocking gently and calling her name.

"Snotface, please let me in. I'm sorry, I really am. Please, can't we talk about this?"

Lizzy ignored him and wept on.

Fred stood outside and begged and apologized for over an hour, but with no response. Finally he went away and sat in the living room, feeling miserable. He knew he could pop into her room anytime he wanted, but he had a feeling it would only make things worse. He stared bitterly out the window. Damn that Mickey Fartpants! This was all his fault! If he had only had the good manners to stay away from Lizzy, none of this would've happened.

Fred sat in the living room until it turned dark. At last he couldn't stand it any longer. He willed himself up to Lizzy's room and landed in his armchair with a pop. Lizzy was lying curled up on her bed. She had turned on the bedside lamp and was staring at nothing in the dim light.

"Lizzy, I'm really sorry," Fred said quietly from his chair.

"Get out," said Lizzy in a deadly voice.

"No I won't get out, I want to talk about this."

Lizzy sat up and glared at him savagely. "There is _nothing_ to talk about!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Sorry won't cut it this time. I don't know what is wrong with you Fred, but you've -- you've crossed the line. I think you'd better leave and stay away from me for a while."

"No!" cried Fred desperately. "No, Snot-- Lizzy, please! Don't say things like that! I'm so sorry, I truly am. Please say you'll forgive me and you'll take me back!" He could hardly believe the words that were coming out of his mouth! He was groveling like a pathetic lover! _He_ was! Drop Dead Fred, who never groveled to anyone, not even his Snotface!

"Get out," said Lizzy with quiet finality.

"Lizzy... please..."

"GET OUT!!" She shrieked.

He finally complied. He disappeared out of her room and sped to Limbo, to curl up in his spot and brood over the shambles of his life.

Sagacity found him there, hours later. He was sitting curled up in the hollow of a tree, similar to the one at his and Lizzy's park, staring dully into space. Sagacity appeared beside him with a pop.

"Hello Fred."

He started. "Oh, hi Sagacity," he mumbled.

She waited for a bit and when he did not speak she said, "Fred, we know what happened."

Fred close his eyes. "Do you?"

"Yes, we watched the whole thing. Fred, what on earth were you thinking?"

"I don't know."

"We don't either. That was by and far the dumbest thing we've ever seen you do."

Fred nodded miserably.

"If Mickey were a dangerous sort, if he were some kind of negative influence in Lizzy's life, we could understand why you behaved the way you did; but he's not, Fred, he's a perfectly good friend for Lizzy. Why do you dislike him so much?"

Fred shrugged.

"Are you maybe a little jealous?"

Fred shrugged again, looking rebellious this time.

"Jealousy isn't a becoming thing in an imaginary friend, Fred. In fact, most consider it a dangerous thing. You put your relationship with Lizzy in jeopardy today with your actions."

Fred turned white. He hadn't considered that when he went to sabotage Lizzy's date. He looked fearfully at Sagacity. "Has -- has Fair said anything about this?"

"He's not happy," said Sagacity soberly. "He thinks you're way too attached... and you probably are Fred."

"Is he -- is he going to take me off the case?" Fred felt sick to his stomach.

"He didn't say. Probably not yet. We're still trying to let Lizzy decide whether she needs you or not. If this relationship with Mickey progresses and she decides to phase you out for him then, yes, you will be taken off the case."

Fred closed his eyes in anguish. Then his head snapped up and he looked at Sagacity suspiciously. "What do you mean 'if this relationship progresses?'"

Sagacity shrugged. "Mickey is a potential... romantic interest in Lizzy's life. He might make a suitable future mate for her. If that is the case, then your role in her life will soon be finished."

"No... no, NO!" exclaimed Fred. "Snotface isn't old enough to... to be thinking about things like that! She's just a kid. That boy needs to leave her alone!"

Sagacity smiled indulgently. "She's sixteen, Fred. Old enough to date. If I might add, I didn't think _you_ exactly considered her a kid anymore."

To this, Fred had not answer. He knew Sagacity was right, but he didn't want to admit it, not even to himself. He was so torn. Part of him wanted Lizzy to stay a little girl, his little Snotface forever. But another part, a secret, hidden part that he was not ready to acknowledge, wanted... something else. It was this part of him that admired Lizzy's dark eyes, and silky hair, that fluttered deliciously when he caught a breath of her perfume or brushed against her skin. It was this part of him that hated Mickey Bunce with all his heart...

Sagacity sighed. "Well Fred, you've behaved very unwisely today, but I think you know that. If you take my advice, I think you should leave Lizzy alone for a while. Let her sort out her feelings. When she's done being mad at you, we might be able to determine whether or not you should stay with her."

Fred nodded wretchedly.

Sagacity patted him on the shoulder. "Fred... I'd watch myself if I were you. You're dabbling in dangerous waters whether you know it or not. Be careful with Lizzy. Remember, you're capable of hurting her as much as anybody."

Fred looked horrified. "I would never hurt Snotface! Never!"

"Not intentionally perhaps, but I've been watching you get progressively more and more selfish in regards to her. You must keep in mind that your ultimate job is to push her out of the nest, to help her to fly and ultimately to leave her. I'm afraid that lately, you've lost sight of that."

Fred again had no reply. He did not tell Sagacity that the most dreadful thought to him in the world was the thought of leaving Lizzy, but he had an inkling that she knew that already.

"Well, take care, Fred." Sagacity sighed again. "If you stay away from Lizzy for a few days, I imagine she'll want you back sooner rather than later." And with a pop, she vanished, leaving Fred to his own devices.

. . .

He took Sagacity's advice and stayed away from Lizzy for nearly a week. It was the longest week of his life. He missed her unbearably. Being separated from her like this was like having all the air sucked out of his lungs. Daily, he went to the garden outside the counsel building and watched Lizzy through her portal. She went about her business as usual, but he noticed that she seemed very dull and listless, frequently falling into some kind of melancholy reverie right in the middle of whatever she was doing. He hoped fervently that she was thinking about him.

To his disgust, Mickey Fartpants came over the day after their fight, bringing Lizzy's clothes that she had left at the restaurant. Lizzy cheered up in his presence and he stayed for supper, brightening the dreary atmosphere with his sunny personality. Fred watched balefully. He loathed Mickey for making Lizzy feel better. In the past that had always been _his_ job!

Fred kept to himself during his stay in Limbo. He saw no more of Sagacity and none of the other counsel members visited him. All his other friends seemed to be out on their jobs so he was free to mope in peace. He thought bitterly that if this was a taste of what life would be like after he left Lizzy, then he'd rather not go on living...

On the last day of that week, he was curled up at the garden wall, silently watching Lizzy's portal. Other people came and went to look in on the people in the portals. Some of them looked curiously at Fred, others ignored him. Fred did not care about any of them. He reached out and gently stroked Lizzy's face on the portal screen. She was alone in her room, sitting at her dressing table looking very sad. He wanted more than anything to take her in his arms and comfort her and hear her say that they were friends again.

Lizzy leaned her head on her hands. She looked so weary. She was whispering something to herself and Fred heard it in his mind. "Oh Fred, I hope I haven't driven you away forever," she murmured to herself. "I didn't mean to do that." She closed her eyes and two big tears squeezed out of them. "I miss you... you make me furious sometimes, but I miss you."

That was enough for Fred. In a flash he had willed himself away from Limbo and sped back to his Lizzy, his whole being yearning toward her. He popped up behind her in her room. She still had her head in her hands and she did not see him materialize. He knelt down beside her and laid his hand on her knee. She started and turned toward him. He said nothing, but just looked at her sadly. Lizzy looked back at him for a few seconds and then suddenly flung herself into his arms. He held her so tightly they could both hardly breath, his face buried in her hair, rocking her to and fro.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry, Lizzy."

She nuzzled her face against his neck, making him feel like he would melt with happiness. "I know. I forgive you, Fred."

He inhaled deeply, relishing the familiar, sweet scent of her hair. It was like a breath of home. God help him, but he had missed her. "Thank you," he whispered.

Lizzy sighed and broke the embrace. Fred let her go reluctantly. He would've sat there, cradling her in his arms for hours if she had let him. Lizzy sighed again and shook her head. "Fred... what am I going to do with you?"

_You can cuddle back into me again,_ he thought wistfully. _And maybe kiss me a few times if you like..._

Lizzy was still shaking her head. "Fred... I don't want to fight with you anymore. It makes me so unhappy."

"Me too," said Fred quietly.

"But will you please accept the fact that I'm going to be friends with Mickey Bunce and not cause any more problems? I want to be friends with both of you."

Fred closed his eyes and sighed. In all honesty, he didn't want to accept her friendship with Mickey at all; but he knew that if he was going to stay in Snotface's life he was going to have to.

"Okay," he sighed.

Lizzy smiled and squeezed his hand. "Thank you, Fred."

He nodded awkwardly, not looking at her.

Lizzy got up off the floor. "Where have you been all this time, Fred?"

He plopped down in his armchair with a sigh. "Oh, out and about... here and there..."

"You still won't tell me where you go when you vanish?"

He smiled mysteriously at her. "If you get to keep Mickey Fartpants as a friend, then I get to keep my little secret," he told her.

Lizzy rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Okay, fine."

They stayed up talking late. Lizzy told him all about her week (avoiding any Mickey details). Fred listened indulgently. He didn't tell her that he knew most of what had happened anyway from watching her through her portal. Before Lizzy went to bed, she came up to Fred and slipped her arms around him. "I really missed you, Fred," she murmured. "You make me crazy sometimes, but I can't seem to get along without you."

Fred held her close and swallowed a lump in his throat. "Me too, Snotface," was all he could manage.

. . .

A few months went by. Fred and Lizzy managed to maintain relative peace in their relationship. Lizzy continued to revive her friendship with Mickey, but she tried to be sensitive to Fred about it. She did not bring Mickey around the house much and she did not talk about him to Fred. Fred, in turn, fought hard to be tolerant about the situation. He hated it when Lizzy was out with Mickey, but aside from an occasional snarky comment, he tried not to cause trouble. As a precaution, he forced himself to stay away when the two of them were together. It was too much of a temptation to raise cain if he tagged along. He thought wryly that he had never exercised so much self-control in all his life. He hoped Lizzy appreciated it.

His greatest hope was that Lizzy would get tired of Mickey and he would fade out of her life again. But that did not seem to be happening. She talked to him on the phone almost every evening and often times went out on weekends with him. While she was gone, Fred either hung around her room, waiting for her to come back or he went to Limbo and brooded in his favorite spot. He was thankful when school started again, it kept Lizzy busy with homework and away from Mickey.

It did not help matters that the Mega-Beast actually approved of Mickey. Fred did not know what to think of this. She had never approved of any of Lizzy's choices before. Yet she seemed to think Mickey was wonderful. Fred wondered if she was harboring some secret agenda, but if she was, he could not discern it.

Lizzy still spent the majority of her time with Fred. They still went to their park frequently and after the first snow came, they had snowball fights and made snow angels. Lizzy found it very interesting that the "imaginary" Fred _could_ make a snow angel. She said it proved her theory that there was more to him than just the neurons in her brain. Fred just shrugged. He wondered why it made a difference to her whether or not he was imaginary or simply unseen, but he was glad that it did.

Fred had taken to lurking around her school more this year because he did not trust some of the lecherous boys who went there. Lizzy's transformation from awkward, flat-chested little girl to stunning young lady was complete and Fred knew they were watching her. The protector in him felt he needed to keep an extra eye on them.

It was around Christmas time that Fred's world was shaken to its very foundations. Nigel was going to be traveling overseas on business and so had not extended an invitation for Lizzy to come spend the holidays with him. Lizzy was disappointed of course, but she was determined to make the best of it. Fred was far from happy about the situation for a number of reasons. First of all, it meant spending Christmas with the Mega-Beast. Secondly, it meant no fun trip to New York, and thirdly (and most irritating) it meant Lizzy having much more time to spend with Mickey.

Over the holidays, the latter started hanging around the Cronin residence much more than he used to. Of course Lizzy always wanted to be with him. Fred snarled quite a bit about this, but one look from Lizzy would shut him up. This power that she had over him only proved to further his frustrations. He hated being putty in the hands of a sixteen-year-old girl, but he hated more the thought of losing her one way or another.

One morning, a few days before Christmas, Lizzy informed Fred that she and her mother were going Christmas shopping and invited him to come along. Fred scornfully declined. "If it was just you, Snotface, I'd go in a heartbeat, but if you think I am going _anywhere_ with the Mega-Beast, you need your head examined."

"Fine," said Lizzy annoyed. "It would make it more bearable for me if you were along, you know."

"Well, that's just tough," said Fred lazily. "I think I'll stay here and start runs in all your mother's hose. That seemed to make her pretty mad the last time I did it."

"Whatever keeps you entertained," sighed Lizzy.

Lizzy and Polly left. Fred started the runs, rubbed bacon grease on Polly's red silk blouse that she always wore at Christmas and drank all the orange juice in the fridge so that Polly would have to go buy more when it came time for her to make her famous orange jello pudding she always made during the holidays. He felt he had had a good afternoon. He curled up on Lizzy's bed for a nap and slept the sleep of one well satisfied until he heard voices downstairs and went to welcome Lizzy home.

He went down the steps, two at a time, in a very good mood because of the havoc he had wreaked on the Mega-Beast that afternoon. He passed Polly on the stairs and stuck his tongue out at her for good measure. Lizzy was not with her. He came downstairs and looked in the living room and the dining room before he heard low voices in the kitchen. He burst through the door, eager to tell Lizzy about his afternoon.

"Snotface! You'll never guess what I --"

He stopped dead, the words frozen on his tongue.

Mickey and Lizzy were standing in the kitchen, wrapped in each other's arms, kissing lingeringly. Lizzy was leaning back against the kitchen counter and Mickey was leaning into her, kissing her deeply. Lizzy started violently when Fred came through the door and broke the kiss. For a split second their eyes met.

Jealousy unlike anything he had ever felt before exploded in Fred's chest. Wave after wave of it crashed over him, crushing him with its intensity. There was a roaring in his ears. He felt himself shaking violently from head to foot. He wanted to hurl himself across the room and tear Lizzy out of Mickey's embrace. He wanted to drag Mickey outside like a real man would've done and beat him to a pulp. Lizzy was looking at him pleadingly. Mickey was asking her what was wrong. "Nothing," Lizzy replied turning her eyes away from Fred and back to him. The brief action was like a dagger in Fred's heart, jolting him out of his paralysis. He couldn't stand it. In a flash, he was gone, whirling away from the scene in his green sparkles, hurtling through time and space in a vortex of shock.

He landed in Limbo with a crash. His head was whirling. He was still half crazed with jealousy. Then then pain took over. Terrible, tearing, gut-wrenching pain. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest, and gasping for breath. He felt he was going to be physically sick. He crawled over to a nearby tree and leaned against it, almost blind with with agony.

Witnessing Lizzy kissing another man had unleashed something in him, something that he had been fighting against for sometime. He knew that he loved Elisabeth Cronin. Not with the fond love he had felt for her as a child, but with a man's violent passion. He loved her as his own life, his own soul. He wanted her for his own in every way, and not just for a while, but for forever. _He_ wanted to be the man standing in that kitchen, holding Lizzy close in his arms, kissing her sweet lips, breathing her sweet breath, quietly triumphing in the knowledge that she was _his_. He hated Mickey Bunce fervently for being that man.

Fred groaned and hid his face in his hands. How had it come to this? He knew feeling this way was wrong, so terribly wrong. It went against every rule, every letter of protocol imaginary friends were supposed to follow. _This_ what was what Judge Fair and Sagacity had been warning against all those years. What was it Sagacity had said to him long ago? "Be careful. Don't get too attached. It's a sure fire way to get hurt." He suddenly understood what she meant. They had not been concerned about him loving Lizzy as a child, they had been concerned about him loving her as an adult.

Well, it was too late for him now. He had gone and done the very thing they had been warning against. He had fallen deeply and irrevocably in love with the one person he was always supposed to leave; to push out of the nest. He didn't want to push her out of the nest... unless she could fall into his arms and stay there forever.

Fred sat huddled against the tree, all alone, for hours. A war raged in his heart as he tried to decide what to do. He knew it would be foolish to go back to Lizzy. Seeing her, being around her, would only intensify his feelings, especially if he had to suppress them. He would only be torturing himself by remaining with her.

But on the other hand, he couldn't endure the thought of leaving her. He needed her... and she still needed him. He _knew_ she still needed him. There was a reason why Judge Fair had left him with her for so long. Lizzy wasn't ready to be pushed from the nest. She wasn't whole yet. The wounded little girl Fred had rocked in his arms the night her father had left her was not yet healed. It was his job to help her heal, it always had been. It was suddenly so clear to him. He had unconsciously been focusing so hard on his own feelings for Lizzy and his desire to keep her for himself, that he had lost sight of what his real purpose was. Sagacity said that he had become selfish. Well, she was right. He knew he would never be completely unselfish in regards to his beloved Snotface, he was too far gone for that.

But he could at least try to do the right thing. He would go back to her, do his duty to her and help her finish healing. That was something Mickey Fartpants couldn't take away from him! In the mean time, if he savored her every touch, glance, smile, every waking moment he had with her, who could blame him? He would nourish his starving heart with her presence for as long as he could. She wasn't all Mickey's yet. She was still partly his, Drop Dead Fred's, until the Powers-That-Be took her away from him.

He stayed in Limbo for the rest of the day. He couldn't bear to go back to the Cronin household while Mickey was still there with Lizzy. He was a man, jealous and in love, and he didn't dare trust his own actions.

Towards dark, he felt Lizzy's voice in his head, asking for him. "Fred?" she whispered. "Fred, where are you?"

He braced himself and materialized in her room. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, looking tense and pensive. But she smiled when she saw him. He plopped down in his chair. "Hi Snotface," he said with much bravado.

"Fred... are you alright?"

"Alright? Of course I'm alright! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, I don't know, I just thought..." she trailed off, blushing deeply. There was a silence. Lizzy sat on the edge of her bed and nervously played with a ribbon on her shirt. "Mickey and I are dating," she said at last, looking up at him.

"Yes, I gathered as much." Fred tried hard to control the bitterness in his voice but did not quite succeed.

"Well, considering how you feel about him, I-I just wondered if -- if you were okay with it?"

"Snotface, what you do with your own time is your business," said Fred attempting to sound indifferent and almost succeeding. "I don't like Mickey Fartpants and I never will, but if he makes you happy, then..." he trailed off with a shrug. But Lizzy was watching him closely and he could tell she wasn't entirely fooled.

"Fred... you'll always be my best friend, you know," she said softly.

"Yeah, yeah," this time Fred did not even try to hide the cynicalness in his voice. "You say that now, but you'll forget about me eventually, Snotface. You'll want to spend more and more time with your Fartpants and I'll get shunted out into the cold."

"No Fred! Oh please don't say things like that! I still need you too."

He smiled a little sadly, "you won't always."

She was looking more and more upset. She came over to him and knelt at his feet where he sat. She rested her head against his knee. "I will. You're my Fred and I'll always need you."

He almost melted at this. He wanted to pull her onto his lap and kiss her all over until she forgot Mickey. But he didn't. "Are you planning on keeping me around after you get married, Snotface? After you have kids? You've got to think about these things."

"Fred! I'm only sixteen! I'm not getting married any time soon! For goodness sakes, Mickey and I are only dating. Don't start planning a wedding now!"

Fred shrugged. "It's got to start somewhere."

"Well it's not going to start now."

"Damned right it's not!" he had reached his hand down and was absently stroking her hair. He almost pulled a wad of it out as he involuntarily clenched his fists. Lizzy winced. "Ouch Fred!"

"Sorry."

Lizzy sighed. "Fred, I don't want to fight with you. I like Mickey and I want to date him and... just see how things work out. But I really do need you. Please, please be nice about this."

Fred looked at her unhappily. "Snotface, I'll try to be nice, but I can't be happy about it. That's asking too much."

"Okay, I won't ask you to be happy."

"Thank you." She laid her head on his knee again. Fred sighed and closed his eyes. Her nearness was driving him crazy. He wanted to hold her so badly, to touch her and pour out his real feelings to her. But he didn't. He just sat and quietly stroked her hair until she said she was ready for bed. Then he curled up in his armchair and quietly watched her sleep until he drifted off himself.


End file.
